THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

EX  LIBRIS 
ERNEST  CARROLL  MOORE 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

ZUR   KRITIK   DER  ZE1T  ijtk  Thousand 

ZUR   MECHANIK   DES  GEISTES  9'* 

VON   KOMMENDEN    DINGEN  6s/A 
(German  original  of  "In  Days  to 
Come") 

DEUTSCHLANDS        ROHSTOFF- 

VERSORGUNG  39/A 

PROBLEME      DER      FRIEDENS- 

WIRTSCHAFT  35/A        „ 

STREITSCHRIFT  VOM  GLAUBEN  U/A 

VOM   AKTIENWESEN  ao/A 

DIE   NEUE  WIRTSCHAFT  4&/A 

ZEITLICHES  25/A 

NACH  DER   FLUT  is/A 

AN   DEUTSCHLANDS  JUGEND  3Olh        „ 

DER   KAISER  so/A 

DER   NEUE  STAAT  is/A 

KRITIK      DER     DREIFACHEN 

REVOLUTION  I4/A 

DIE   NEUE  GESELLSCHAFT  to/A 
(German  original  of  "  The  New  Society" 
recently  published  by  Messrs.  Williams 
&  Norgate) 

AUTONOME  WIRTSCHAFT  lo/A 


WAS   WIRD   WBKDEN 


to/A 


In   Days  to  Come 


By 

Walther  Rathenau 


Translated  from  the  German  by 

Eden    and    Cedar    Paul 


NEW  YORK 

ALFRED    A.    KNOPF   (Inc.) 
220  WEST  FORTY-SECOND   ST. 
1921 


n  IV 


TO 

MY    FATHER'S   MEMORY 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 

PACE 

I.    INTRODUCTORY          .           .           .           •>           •  IJ 

II.    THE  GOAL                    ....*.  25 

III.    THE  WAY          ...                                    •  63 

1.  THE  WAY  OF  ECONOMICS        ..       ,  .           •  63 

2.  THE  WAY  OF  MORALS             »  129 

3.  THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILL         .           .           •  184 


I 

INTRODUCTORY 


I. 

THIS  book  treats  of  material  things,  but  treats  of  them  for 
the  sake  of  the  spirit.  It  treats  of  labour,  want,  and  gain  ; 
of  goods,  rights,  and  power ;  of  technical,  economic,  and 
political  structure :  but  it  neither  postulates  nor  esteems 
these  concepts  as  ends  in  themselves. 

It  may  well  be  asked  whether  oppression  and  poverty, 
want,  trouble,  and  injustice,  do  not  rather  tend  to  free 
man's  most  genuine  forces,  to  liberate  the  soul,  and  to  install 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  The  rejoinder  is  obvious 
that  human  faith  and  energy  require  help,  not  hindrance  ; 
that  chill  penury  is  fatal  to  all  the  germs  of  effort ;  that 
growth  and  blossoming  require  a  sufficiency  of  warmth  and 
light.  But  this  question  and  answer  does  not  concern  us. 
The  spirit  must  not  be  misused  either  to  sustain  and 
extenuate  that  which  exists,  or  for  the  gratification  of  wishes 
and  the  fulfilment  of  conditions ;  its  powers  invariably 
suffice  to  compel  harmony  between  the  maker  and  that 
which  he  makes.  This  relationship  is  no  less  lucid  than  the 
relationship  between  organic  forms  and  the  totality  of  the 
conditions  of  existence ;  each  new  spirit  creates  its  own 
world,  and  every  one  of  its  evolutions  realises  itself  in  a 
new  revolution  of  life. 

The  antecedent  of  such  a  revolution  is  not  demand,  but 
annunciation,  which  already  conceals  within  itself  the  first 
dawn  of  fulfilment.  This  annunciation  is  not  the  mere  vision 
of  a  soothsayer ;  it  is  the  permeation  of  the  earthly  envi- 
ronment as  manifested  to  our  senses  with  the  certainty  of 
spiritual  law. 

For  this  reason,  we  do  not  engage  in  the  spinning  of 
idle  dreams,  but  fulfil  our  duty  and  maintain  our  right  when 
we  turn  our  glance  from  the  contemplation  of  the  living 
spirit  to  the  shadow  play  of  institutions  and  forms  of  life  ; 

11 


12      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

for  light  and  darkness  comprehend  and  explain  one  another. 
Our  epoch,  though  convinced  that  any  trifle  which  can  be 
termed  a  fact  is  supremely  important,  lacks  courage  to  read 
its  destiny  in  its  own  heart.  When,  sportively  and  irrespon- 
sibly, we  sometimes  direct  our  thoughts  towards  the  future, 
we  merely  invert  the  cares  and  disagreeables  of  our  daily 
experience,  creating  mechanical  Utopias,  wherein,  having 
waved  the  Hermes'  wand  of  technical  progress,  we  magically 
create  for  ourselves  a  niggard  Sunday  out  of  the  old  weekday 
existence. 

Whence  will  our  age  draw  the  courage  that  will  enable 
it  to  speak  of  evolution,  the  future,  and  the  goals  ;  to  devote 
half  of  its  activities  to  coming  things  ;  to  work  for  posterity, 
discovering  laws,  establishing  values,  storing  up  goods  ? 
We  are  never  weary  of  studying  whence  we  come,  and  yet 
we  do  not  know  where  we  stand  to-day,  and  we  do  not  care 
to  know  whither  we  are  going.  The  best  among  us,  therefore, 
grow  weary  of  this  work  which  looks  only  towards  to-day. 
For  many,  doubt,  exhaustion,  and  despair  become  the  central 
features  of  their  thought,  so  that  they  give  themselves  up 
to  the  enjoyment  of  the  passing  hour,  and  renounce  life's 
finest  privilege — travail. 

Others  turn  to  dead  dogmas  and  the  promises  of  dead 
creeds.  They  hope  to  resurrect  the  old  faith  by  institutions, 
and  by  argument,  by  gentleness  and  by  wrath,  by  cajolery 
and  by  threats.  Their  hearts  are  in  the  right  place,  for  the 
religion  of  mankind  can  never  perish  ;  but  intellectually 
they  are  at  fault,  for  faith  cannot  exist  without  an  object, 
and  such  an  object  cannot  be  forcibly  created,  or  brought 
into  existence  by  vain  talk.  It  lies  in  the  very  nature  of 
faith  that  unerringly,  unconsciously,  and  infallibly  it  can 
create  its  own  object,  the  object  which  is  within  the  com- 
petence of  the  extant  sum  of  creative  forces.  But  the  faith 
which  rested  on  dogma  suffered  from  the  futility  of  those 
temporal  powers  which  were  too  weak  to  impose  it  upon 
the  world,  too  weak  to  overthrow  its  competitors,  and  yet 
strong  enough  century  after  century  to  protect  it  with 
smoked  glass  from  the  radiance  emanating  from  the  peoples. 
This  faith  died  when  the  protecting  panes  weie  shattered. 

To  discover  gods,  to  show  forth  signs  and  wonders,  to 
install  sacraments — such  well-intentioned  artifices  are  useless. 


INTRODUCTORY  13 

It  is  true  that  there  is  a  profound  need  of  guiding  forces  ; 
but  no  ingenious  and  human  re-interpretation  can  replace 
by  ethical  concepts  the  old  essential  of  evident  miracles ; 
transcendental  convictions  continue  to  live  in  our  hearts, 
but  they  demand  a  new  language,  new  imagery,  and  fresh 
illumination.  If  we  explore  the  innermost  recesses,  the 
almost  unfathomable  depths  of  our  consciousness,  we  discover 
that  these  dark  spaces  are  by  no  means  empty  ;  we  return 
to  the  upper  world  with  the  certainty  of  the  infinite  ;  we 
receive  assurance  as  to  the  divine  character  of  creation ; 
we  are  vouchsafed  a  revelation  of  our  soul's  mission,  of  our 
supra-intellectual  powers,  and  of  the  mystery  of  the  spiritual 
realm. 

These  matters  have  been  discussed  in  my  book  ZUY 
Mechanik  des  Geistes  [The  Mechanism  of  the  Spirit],  For 
our  present  purpose,  we  need  make  only  one  assumption, 
namely,  that  all  earthly  activities  and  aims  find  their  justi- 
fication in  the  expansion  of  the  soul  and  its  realm. 


2. 

This  book  strikes  dogmatic  socialism  to  the  very  heart. 
For  socialism  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  material  will ;  its  centre 
is  the  distribution  of  earthly  goods ;  its  goal  is  a  politico- 
economical  order.  Even  though  the  socialists  are  to-day 
endeavouring  to  assimilate  heterogeneous  ideals,  derived 
from  alien  outlooks,  these  ideals  are  not  born  from  the  spirit 
of  socialism.  Socialism  has  no  need  of  such  ideals,  which  are 
in  truth  disturbing  elements  ;  for  the  way  of  socialism  leads 
from  the  earth  to  the  earth,  its  most  intimate  faith  is  revolt, 
its  strongest  force  is  a  common  sentiment  of  hatred,  and  its 
ultimate  hope  is  earthly  wellbeing. 

The  founders  of  socialism  believed  in  the  infallibility  of 
science.  Nay  more,  they  believed  in  the  directive  power 
of  science.  They  believed  in  inexorable  material  laws  of 
humanity,  and  in  a  mechanical  earthly  happiness. 

Now,  however,  science  itself  is  beginning  to  recognise 
that  its  most  finished  web  can  be  for  the  will  nothing  more 
than  a  good  map  is  for  the  traveller.  Here  lies  a  range  of 
mountains,  there  a  river,  a  town,  a  lake.  If  I  take  the 
right-hand  road,  I  shall  reach  this  place ;  if  I  turn  to  the 


14      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

left,  I  shall  reach  that  other.  This  way  is  shorter,  but  that 
way  is  less  hilly.  Here  I  shall  find  plenty  ;  there,  mountain 
air.  Here  is  untrammelled  nature  ;  there  civilisation.  But 
no  map  can  tell  me  the  route  I  ought  to  follow  ;  no  map  can 
tell  me  whither  my  heart  impels  me,  or  where  my  duty  calls. 
Science  weighs  and  measures,  describes  and  explains,  but  it 
does  not  furnish  a  scale  of  values  beyond  a  purely  conven- 
tional one.  But  without  valuation  and  choice,  we  cannot 
aim  at  a  goal ;  and  since  all  rational  activity  aspires  towards 
an  aim  and  seeks  a  pole,  we  learn  once  again  that  the  heart 
is  the  supreme  arbiter  of  all  human  happenings. 

There  is  no  place  for  the  will  of  the  heart  in  the  compulsory 
process  enforced  upon  events  in  accordance  with  the  materialist 
conception  of  history.  If  the  apparent  valuations  of  mankind 
alter,  as  they  always  have  altered,  blind  mechanism,  in  its 
unceasing  progress,  must  hurl  the  will  of  mankind  against 
its  own  counterpart. 

To  seek  goals  implies  faith.  But  that  is  no  genuine  faith 
which,  arising  out  of  the  desire  to  escape  from  a  temporal 
need,  denies  the  extant,  to  transform  the  world  order  into 
a  mere  expedient.  True  faith  springs  from  the  poietic 
energy  of  the  heart,  from  the  imaginative  power  of  love  ; 
it  creates  an  emotional  mood,  whereby  events  are  determined. 
This  emotional  mood  is  never  led  astray  by  institutions ; 
and  because  socialism  fights  for  institutions,  it  remains 
at  the  level  of  politics.  It  can  furnish  criticism,  can 
eradicate  certain  evils,  can  win  rights.  But  it  will  never 
transform  our  earthly  life,  for  the  power  to  effect  this 
transformation  is  given  only  to  a  philosophical  outlook,  a 
faith,  a  transcendental  idea. 

Although  the  inadequacy  of  socialism  is  manifest,  let 
not  those  rejoice  who  combat  socialism  from  an  easy-going 
fondness  for  that  which  exists,  from  a  dread  of  having  to 
make  sacrifices,  from  spiritual  sloth. 

The  sacrifices  that  will  be  demanded  in  days  to  come 
will  be  greater,  the  service  will  be  more  arduous,  the  material 
reward  will  be  less  considerable,  than  in  the  socialist  common- 
wealth ;  for  in  days  to  come  there  will  be  required  something 
more  than  the  renunciation  of  material  goods.  We  shall 
have  to  put  away  from  ourselves  our  dearest  vanities, 
weaknesses,  vices,  and  passions ;  upon  us  will  be  imposed 


INTRODUCTORY  15 

the  duty  of  cherishing  sentiments  and  performing  deeds, 
which  to-day  we  esteem  in  theory  while  despising  them  in 
practice  ;  we  shall  have  to  learn  by  hard  experience  that  our 
aim  in  life  must  not  be  happiness  but  fulfilment,  that  we  have 
to  live  not  for  our  own  sake  but  for  the  sake  of  God. 

Nevertheless  mankind  will  walk  in  this  path,  not  because 
it  must  but  because  it  will ;  because  there  is  no  turning 
backwards  from  the  recognition  of  faith ;  because  the 
blessedness  of  the  divine  will  interpenetrates  us.  Mankind 
will  walk  in  this  path  amid  enmity,  scorn,  and  persecution. 
Nor  will  humanity  be  spared  the  sorest  of  all  trials,  in  that 
it  will  be  blamed  by  those  whom  it  is  seeking  to  deliver, 
by  those  who  will  inflict  bitter  punishment  and  hallowed 
expiation  in  return  for  injustice  done.  Ingratitude  will 
sanctify  the  path,  hardship  will  accompany  it,  and  none 
the  less  mankind  in  proud  humility  will  offer  up  thanks  for 
every  painful  stride  that  leads  onward  towards  the  light. 

Not  fear,  not  hope,  the  motive  forces.  Not  the  reasoned 
striving  for  the  attainment  of  a  mechanical  equipoise,  not 
goodness,  not  even  justice.  What  impels  man  forward  upon 
that  path  is  faith,  arising  out  of  love,  arising  out  of  the  utmost 
need  and  out  of  God's  will. 


This  epoch,  which  in  its  inmost  self  yearns  foi  self- 
knowledge  and  for  deliverance  from  its  own  hardness,  is  in 
'its  essence  unfavourable  to  promethean  thought.  Hardly 
has  it  got  beyond  the  brutal  earnestness  and  obviousness  of 
materialism,  than  it  becomes  ashamed  of  all  practical  endea- 
vour, and  then  becomes  ashamed  of  its  own  shame,  and  seeks 
to  hide  it,  in  that  with  a  well-mastered  detestation  it  inter- 
weaves into  its  sentiments  pitiful  apparatus  and  trimmings 
of  contemporary  life.  With  calculated  audacity,  it  intro- 
duces arc  lamps  and  hotel  gardens  into  poetry,  and  is  yet 
more  estranged  from  the  world  than  was  its  rough  predecessor, 
which  participated  actively  in  human  affairs  and  was  con- 
versant with  them  all.  Many  persons,  wishing  to  show 
how  remote  they  are  from  the  steadfast  self-confidence  of 
the  market-place,  choose  from  out  the  phenomenal  world 
only  that  which  is  most  delicate  and  most  multicoloured  in 


16      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

complexion,  contenting  themselves  with  coquettish  contem- 
plation, with  smiling  here  at  some  resemblance  and  there 
at  some  contradiction. 

Grievously  are  they  deceived  !  For  only  the  earnestness 
of  the  world,  a  belief  in  its  meaning  and  continuity,  justifies 
contemplation  and  participation.  A  vigorous  belief  in  the 
meaninglessness  and  hopeless  confusion  of  all  that  exists, 
leads  by  logical  necessity  to  an  unspiritual  life  of  animal 
enjoyment  and  to  the  restriction  of  all  the  moral  consciousness 
to  a  fear  of  the  police.  The  man  who  lives  solely  for  what 
he  can  filch  from  life,  gives  the  lie  to  the  sweat  which  he 
squanders  and  turns  to  account.  He  remains  a  hero  only 
to  one  of  his  own  kidney,  for  mankind  will  not  put  up  with 
such  petty  theft. 

Beyond  question,  artificially  acquired  knowledge  and 
culture  will  not  suffice  to  break  up  the  hard  clods  of  the 
field  entrusted  to  our  care ;  the  arrogance  of  the  superior 
person  will  never  fertilise  this  soil.  Yet  every  genuine 
earthly  experience  must  be  taken  seriously.  Faithfulness 
in  sensuous  perception  and  devotion  of  the  spirit,  lead  to 
the  inner  comprehension  even  of  everyday  occurrences  and 
to  the  contemptuous  rejection  of  any  sipping  at  the  cup  of 
life.  If  the  world  be  an  order,  a  cosmos,  it  behoves  man  to 
study  its  interconnections,  its  laws,  and  its  phenomena; 
it  behoves  him  to  build  them  up  within  himself.  Plato's, 
Leonardo's,  and  Goethe's  irruption  into  the  robust  world  of 
things  was  not  a  mundane  aberration  but  a  divine  necessity. 
The  poet  who,  lacking  spiritual  grasp,  despises  the  present 
and  the  future  of  his  world  for  the  sake  of  artificially  selected 
interests,  is  not  as  he  fancies  a  seer,  but  a  purveyor  of  aesthetic 
amusement.  The  Romans  declared  that  the  state  was 
everyone's  concern.  Still  more  is  the  saying  true  of  nature, 
as  stage,  wilderness,  garden,  battleground,  and  tomb  for 
man. 

To  the  romanticism  of  an  age  which  behaves  realistically 
and  feels  artificially,  there  will  soon  succeed  the  mood  which 
is  never  lacking  in  periods  when  men  are  unperverted. 
Experience  of  the  world  will  replace  literary  and  scholastic 
experience.  Upon  the  solid  and  carefully  finished  foundation 
of  conquered  realities,  the  edifice  of  ideas  can  be  more  securely 
builded  and  can  rise  to  greater  heights  than  upon  the  shifting 


INTRODUCTORY  17 

sands  of  purely  theoretical  principles.  A  pragmatic  trend, 
a  sentiment  of  community  among  men  standing  on  firm 
ground,  an  imaginative  life  based  upon  a  genuine  participation 
in  .the  world  and  upon  genuine  responsibility  to  the  world, 
will  lead  independent  thought  and  feeling  out  of  the  hothouse 
atmosphere  of  the  conventicles  on  to  the  highway  of  fact, 
of  destiny,  and  of  action.  The  thought  and  feeling  of  the 
world  will  become  firm  without  being  platitudinous,  delicate 
without  being  weak,  imaginative  without  being  high-flown, 
transcendental  without  being  sanctimonious,  practical  without, 
being  trivial.  Spiritual  leadership  will  pass  from  women  and 
smirking  aesthetes  to  men,  from  poetasters  and  formalists 
to  poets  and  thinkers. 

The  individualistic  nihilism  from  which  we  suffer  (under 
the  influence  of  which  we  lack  faith  in  communalisation, 
regard  the  law  with  suspicion,  and  look  upon  activity  with 
contempt),  the  individualistic  nihilism  which  professes  to 
soothe  itself  with  the  contemplation  of  the  incomparable 
individual,  and  nevertheless  secretly  nourishes  itself  on  the 
law  and  on  action — this  despairing  and  false  serenity,  uncon- 
vinced ethic,  and  involuntary  renunciation — derives  from  a 
deep  source  which  never  fails  to  flow  when  mankind  has  lost 
faith. 

The  doctrine  runs  ,  Where  is  there  anything  worth  while  ? 
Everything  happens  but  once.  Where  is  constancy  ?  Each 
moment  is  newly  created  and  without  antecedent.  How 
can  there  be  evolution,  seeing  that  everything  temporal  is 
illusion  ? 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  at  the  inmost  core  of  things 
all  is  peace.  The  farther  we  get  from  the  centre,  the  fiercer 
the  wheeling  of  the  shadowy  movement.  In  all  great 
moments  the  soul  senses  its  sacredly  quiescent  goal,  and  like 
the  magnet  towards  the  pole  it  strains  towards  the  centre 
from  out  the  confused  medley  of  illusion.  Yet  this  mystery 
does  not  enfranchise  us  from  life.  That  which  in  the  world-all 
blends  into  a  harmony,  seems  to  us  discordant,  for  we  hear 
it  in  diverse  keys  That  which  exists  inalterably,  dazzles 
us  by  its  changing  aspects.  None  the  less  we  are  placed  in 
this  life  that  we  may  perfect  it  at  our  own  stage  ;  and  our 
path  of  tribulation  leads  through  time.  If  we  despise  this 
theatre  of  existence,  all  thought  is  futile,  all  lofty  sentiment 

2 


18      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

is  irrational,  and  all  action  is  folly  ;  even  the  striving  towards 
inner  perfectionment  is  activity,  and  is  therefore  vain.  But 
this  conclusion  is  self-contradictory,  for  the  hot  urge  of  the 
soul  exists,  and  is  the  most  vital  of  all  our  experiences. 
Dare  to  choose  this  urge,  and  not  the  fictive  absolute,  as 
the  temporary  axis  of  experience,  and  existence  regains  its 
meaning.  Thought  directed  towards  the  absolute  annihilates 
the  will ;  but  devotion  to  the  transcendental  provides  thought 
with  adequate  aims,  it  animates  the  will  to  love  mankind, 
nature,  and  divinity,  and  it  makes  us  masters  of  action. 

Although  every  historico-rationalist  method  of  inter- 
pretation is  in  direct  conflict  with  the  sense  of  this  apriorist 
exposition,  I  may  be  allowed  a  remark  directed  towards  the 
refutation  of  a  traditional  error  of  experience.  When  we 
survey  the  brief  span  of  recorded  history,  we  are  inclined 
to  let  the  light  play  upon  the  affective  life  of  the  Indians, 
the  Hebrews,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Teutons — a  life  handed 
down  to  us  in  their  works  of  art — and  to  infer  that  in  the 
genuine  essence  of  human  powers  there  has  been  no  evolu- 
tionary progress,  that  there  has  been  no  increase  in  these 
powers  during  the  past,  and  that  no  such  increase  is  possible 
for  the  future.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  the  bridge  of 
memory  passes  only  from  peak  to  peak !  It  affords  no 
measure  of  the  mighty  upgrowth  in  the  floor  of  the  valleys. 
History  makes  no  mention  of  those  who  were  countless  and 
nameless,  for  history  is  ever  a  chronicle  of  conquerors  and 
heroes.  Nature,  however,  is  faithful  in  her  dealings ;  she 
does  not  stamp  upon  the  creatures  that  have  been  outstripped 
in  the  race ;  and  the  people,  those  who  comprise  the  out- 
stripped masses,  live  away  from  the  great  main  road,  dwelling 
in  the  bosom  of  the  ancient  continents.  Nature  is  not  like 
the  chemist  who  works  unrestingly  ;  she  transforms  and 
develops  a  part  of  her  inexhaustible  material,  putting  the 
rest  on  one  side,  to  bear  it  always  in  mind,  and  to  work  upon 
it  later,  unnoticed.  In  the  remote  recesses  of  the  African 
and  Asiatic  worlds  there  are  still  living  to-day  the  shepherds 
of  Canaan  and  the  spearbearers  of  Troy  ;  like  ourselves 
made  in  God's  image,  but  younger  and  weaker  in  soul.  Yet 
out  of  those  ancient,  fundamentally  animal  substrata,  have 
sprung  races  so  full  of  inspiration  that  they  almost  reach 
the  heights  attained  by  the  extinct  heroic  stocks. 


INTRODUCTORY  19 

Anyone  who  has  truly  become  possessed  of  a  language, 
possesses  also,  even  though  he  lack  the  genius  of  the  linguistic 
creator,  the  whole  spirit  of  the  tongue  Anyone  who  has 
spiritually  comprehended  and  taken  possession  of  the  inheri- 
tance of  one  of  the  great  among  men,  even  though  not  himself 
a  creator,  is  nevertheless  in  the  spiritual  sphere  the  master's 
disciple  and  brother.  The  legacy  of  Buddha  or  of  Christ, 
of  Plato  or  of  Goethe,  when  first  bequeathed  to  our  earth, 
seemed  to  humanity  repellently  alien  and  even  unfriendly. 
It  matters  not  in  virtue  of  what  commonplace  force  the 
change  has  been  effected  ;  for  now  the  sacred  treasure  has 
germinated  in  a  thousand  hearts  ;  and  these  hearts,  whether 
in  simple  isolation  or  in  competitive  ardour,  are  nearer  to 
the  soul  of  the  teacher  than  were  in  earlier  days  his 
chosen  disciples.  Genius  is  not  the  criterion  of  the  soul, 
but  the  criterion  of  all  creation  is  given  in  the  awakening  of 
the  soul. 

Evolution  is  the  thought  form  of  our  supra-animal  activity, 
for  all  action  inheres  in  the  concept  of  time,  and  the  will 
to  fixity  is  as  impossible  as  the  will  to  the  primitive.  It 
is  the  sign  of  a  sceptical  and  inert  age  when  the  gaze  turns 
back  yearningly  to  the  past.  If  all  our  approval,  all  our 
sympathetic  understanding,  is  concentrated  upon  our  ances- 
tors, if  all  their  sayings  and  doings  seem  to  us  more  important 
and  more  intimately  akin  than  the  youthful  springs  of 
contemporary  life,  we  seek  to  excuse  ourselves  by  alluding 
to  the  curse  of  our  mechanised  expedients,  and  by  references 
to  the  intolerability  of  those  narrow-minded  boasters  who 
extol  every  mechanical  makeshift  as  a  stage  on  the  road  to 
perfection. 

None  the  less,  this  epoch,  with  all  its  faults  and  errors, 
is  worthy  of  admiration,  seeing  that  its  concern  is  not  with 
individual  human  beings  but  with  mankind,  so  that  it  is 
the  work  of  creative  nature,  which  may  be  harsh,  but  is 
never  unmeaning  If  the  time  be  difficult,  it  is  our  difficult 
duty  to  love  it,  to  bore  through  it  with  our  love  until  the 
ponderous  mountains  of  matter  yield,  and  the  light  beyond 
grows  manifest.  Although  this  love  be  hard,  it  grinds  to 
powder  not  only  the  unfeeling  stone  which  the  age  heaps  up 
against  us ;  it  pulverises  likewise  many  a  cherished  idol 
of  our  hearts,  for  only  through  this  heart  can  we  make  our 
way  towards  the  freedom  of  the  world. 


20      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

Are  we  presumptuous  in  our  attempt  to  foreshadow  this 
way  ?  Are  we  arrogant,  in  that  we  wrestle  with  the 
arduous  problem  of  the  science  of  the  spirit-that-is-to-be  ? 
Experience  is  competent  to  deduce,  but  not  to  bring  about 
evolution.  Experience  tells  me  that  the  lime  tree  standing 
before  my  window  grew  from  a  seed  ;  but  experience  does 
not  tell  me  whether  the  seed  in  my  hand  will  become  a 
tree  or  will  be  reduced  to  dust.  Inference,  when  applied 
to  contemporary  things,  remains  ambiguous  ;  its  path  is 
beset  with  dangers,  for  the  number  of  earthly  forms  is 
restricted,  the  contents  grow,  and  unexpectedly  the  old 
vessel  is  filled  with  the  new  spirit.  It  is  permissible  to 
derive  tragedy  from  pastoral,  symphony  from  the  dance  ;  but 
the  spirit  of  Hamlet  and  the  content  of  the  Ninth  Symphony 
have  naught  to  do  with  such  antiquarian  research.  Herein 
we  find  the  limitation  imposed  upon  the  value  of  deduction. 
It  explains,  soothes,  gives  a  mechanical  inertia  to  the  flux 
of  things  ;  but  it  neither  consecrates,  nor  exonerates,  nor 
opens  a  window  towards  the  future.  A  thousand  times 
can  we  learn  the  lesson  from  history.  A  political  form,  a 
type  of  public  order,  may  be  anchored  securely  to  its  deliber- 
ately willed  historical  origins.  Then  a  new  spirit  seizes  it. 
Its  form  persists.  But  in  defiance  of  the  historian  (whose 
hallowed  structure  withers),  under  the  mask  of  error,  mis- 
interpretation, or  force,  the  inner  law  pours  a  new  life  into 
the  cleansed  shell. 

If  experience  and  tradition  negative  the  striving  towards 
the  future,  if  computation  shrivels  to  arid  speculation,  we 
must  hold  fast  to-day  to  the  recognition  that  all  evolution 
is  an  ascent  of  the  spirit,  and  that  our  inner  experience, 
when  purely  perceptual  and  considered  apart  from  the 
significance  given  to  it  by  the  will,  has  but  the  most  infini- 
tesimal influence  upon  events.  Such  is  the  explanation  of  all 
prophecy.  From  the  sober  recognition  of  the  favourable 
prospects  of  a  business  undertaking,  to  the  adequate  under- 
standing of  some  necessary  political  move ;  from  the  sym- 
pathetic recognition  of  some  stage  in  human  destiny,  to  the 
revelatory  insight  into  the  image  of  the  universe — all  the 
phases  of  the  intellectual  and  the  intuitive  symphony 
show  forth  the  parallelism  between  the  experiential  and  the 
objective  spirit.  Each  organised  instrument  experiences  in 
its  own  tones  the  development  of  the  symphony. 


INTRODUCTORY  21 

The  inner  certitude  of  this  experience  is  given  in  the 
unwilled  and  inexorably  imposed  necessity  of  thought ; 
the  participating  sincerity  eludes  mechanical  demonstration. 
What  is  demonstrable  ?  Hardly  the  past,  hardly  even  the 
truth  of  Euclidean  geometry.  Our  feelings  are  not  demon- 
strable, nor  our  experiences,  not  yet  our  forecasts.  Every 
commercial  scheme,  every  organisatory  measure,  is  debatable  ; 
and  nevertheless  there  remains  in  the  world  a  confident 
belief  in  our  power  to  find  the  right  way.  For  in  the  shared 
and  sincere  experience  of  past,  present,  and  future,  there 
inheres  a  force  which  compels  sympathetic  acceptance, 
examination  and  faith.  Strong  feeling  speaks  strongly ; 
clear  vision  throws  an  inner  light ;  sincerity  creates  confidence. 

Genuine  thought  gives  a  bodily  feeling  of  plasticity  and 
stability.  By  another  sign,  too,  is  such  a  thought  distin- 
guished from  the  paradoxes  and  glosses  of  the  day,  which 
seem  true  enough  so  long  as  they  are  contemplated  from  one 
side  only.  Genuine  thought  is  akin  to  reality  ;  it  is  in  touch 
with  everyday  life,  without  being  rooted  therein.  It  seems 
at  one  and  the  same  time  to  be  realisable  and  imaginative. 
For  the  seeds  of  the  future  are  everywhere  germinating  in 
the  soil.  That  which  is  to  come  is  marvellous,  not  because 
it  arises  out  of  nothing,  but  because  it  transforms  that  which 
is  commonplace. 

All  our  actions  are  akin  to  prophecy,  for  every  step 
that  we  take  leads  towards  the  future.  But  if  we  are  to 
believe  in  man's  prophetic  vocation,  let  us  be  firm  in  the 
faith.  If  we  close  our  ranks  and  are  animated  with  good 
will,  then,  beneath  the  joint  vision  of  us  all,  the  deceptive 
will  fade,  the  right  will  grow  clear.  The  essential  condition 
is  that  while  our  feet  remain  firmly  planted  on  the  earth, 
our  eyes  must  turn  ever  towards  the  stars. 


II 

THE    GOAL 


THE  world-wide  movement  characteristic  ot  our  time  arises, 
phenomenally  regarded,  from  two  basic  factors,  which  are 
closely  interconnected. 

An  unparalleled  concentration  of  population  occurred  in 
those  areas  which  are  fitted  for  civilisation.  Its  increasing 
pressure  burst  the  thin  integument  which  hitherto  gave 
the  European  nations  their  configuration  and  restricted 
their  rivalry.  This  enormous  overpopulation  rendered  a 
new  ordering  of  economics  and  life  essential  if  our  race 
were  to  be  maintained  and  properly  cared  for.  From  the 
piling  up  of  the  peoples  there  resulted  a  liberation  of  forces 
in  the  old  substrata,  and  this  gave  birth  to  the  mentality 
adequate  to  the  work  required. 

The  transformative  will  of  mankind  had  a  long  path  to 
travel.  Before  the  new  order  could  first  come  into  being 
and  subsequently  make  good,  it  was  necessary  to  develop 
abstract  thought  and  exact  science,  to  improve  technical 
methods,  to  control  and  to  organise ;  it  was  necessary  to 
modify  human  wishes,  human  ideas,  and  human  aims ; 
it  was  necessary  to  inaugurate  new  modes  of  life,  new  art, 
new  outlooks,  and  a  new  faith. 

In  my  book  Zur  Kritik  der  Zeit  [A  Critique  of  our  Age], 
I  have  traced  the  origins  of  this  order  and  have  described 
it.  To  characterise  its  universality  and  to  indicate  the 
mechanical  determinism  which  distinguished  it  from  all 
previous  orders,  I  have  termed  it  "  mechanisation."  For, 
if  we  regard  it  as  a  whole,  we  perceive  its  essential  nature 
to  lie  in  this,  that  mankind  has  been  interwoven  half  con- 
sciously and  half  unconsciously  to  form  under  compulsion 
a  single  organisation,  so  that  men,  amid  fierce  mutual 
struggles  and  none  the  less  with  increasing  solidarity,  join 
hands  in  caring  for  life  and  the  future. 

The  interconnectedness  of  these  contemporary  pheno- 
mena was  early  realised,  but  no  one  ventured  to  grasp  the 

25 


26      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

phenomenon  as  a  whole,  under  a  single  purview.  For  this 
reason  people  continue  to  speak  of  capitalism  as  the  charac- 
teristic modality  of  our  entire  epoch,  although  capitalism  is 
nothing  more  than  the  projection  of  the  order  as  a  whole 
upon  a  portion  of  the  economic  system.  Consequently, 
science  is  still  unwearying  in  its  efforts  to  deduce  the  mutual 
interrelationships  of  the  branches  of  mechanisation.  In 
ever-changing  combinations,  capitalism,  invention,  war,  Cal- 
vinism, Judaism,  luxury,  the  service  of  woman,  are  inter- 
woven as  alleged  evolutionary  factors  of  the  course  of  events. 
No  one  seems  to  notice  that  in  this  way  one  miracle  is  con- 
tinually being  explained  by  another.  No  one  ever  thinks 
of  searching  for  the  primary  variables  which  the  motley 
play  of  events  surrounds  and  involves.  No  one  perceives 
that  while  the  daughter  is  being  contemplated,  the  mother 
is  being  forgotten.  But  this  basic  function  is  comprised 
within  the  most  intimate  experience  of  the  human  race. 
Regarded  from  without,  it  presents  itself  as  growth  in 
numbers  and  modification  in  kind ;  regarded  from  within, 
it  is  a  link  in  the  spiritual  evolution  of  the  living. 

For,  on  the  creative  borderline  where  we  now  stand,  the 
spirit  outstrides  the  domain  of  the  purposive  intelligence 
which  from  the  days  of  primitive  biological  creation  down 
to  those  of  primitive  man  has  controlled  the  whole  of  life 
with  its  impulses  of  fear  and  desire ;    it  reaches  forward 
now  towards  the  soul,  towards  the  realm  of   the  transcen- 
dental, freed  from  purpose  and  desire.     If  men  are  to  enter 
this  realm,  they  must  concentrate  all  the  forces  of  life ; 
they  must  strain  to  the  uttermost  the  energy  of  the  intellect, 
the  only  energy  over  which  they  have  free  control ;    but 
simultaneously  they  must  never  cease  to  be  aware  of  the 
incompleteness,  the  meaninglessness,  of  this  mighty  signi- 
ficance of  the  material  world.     For  one  of  the  ways  which 
leads  to  the  soul  passes  through  the  intellect.    It  is  the  way 
of  knowledge  and  renunciation,  the  truly  royal  road,  the 
way  of  Buddha.     But  like  all  human  discipline,  this  task 
and   mission  expresses  itself  as  necessity.    As  such,  self- 
created,  it    is   supremely    arduous,   despite  ice    ages   and 
chaos ;  as  an  impetus,  it  is  the  most  mighty  of  all  since 
the  origin  of  our  planet. 

What  is  man  that  he  should  venture  to  speak  of  the 


THE        GOAL  27 

folly  of  nature  ?  Mechanisation,  indeed,  is  man's  destiny, 
and  is  thus  the  work  of  nature ;  it  is  not  a  product  of  the 
arbitrary  will  or  of  the  errors  of  any  individual  or  of  any 
group ;  none  can  escape  it,  for  it  is  decreed  by  primal  law. 
A  pitiful  faintheart  is  he,  who  would  turn  back  towards 
the  past,  who  would  despise  and  repudiate  the  age  in  which 
he  lives.  As  evolution  and  as  nature's  work  we  must 
reverence  our  epoch,  though  as  necessity  we  must  regard 
it  with  enmity.  It  behoves  us  to  look  our  enemy  in  the 
face,  to  estimate  his  strength,  to  spy  out  his  weakness, 
that  we  may  overthrow  him  as  fate  wills.  But  as  necessity, 
mechanisation  is  disarmed  as  soon  as  its  hidden  meaning 
has  been  revealed. 

Nevertheless,  until  population  has  been  reduced  to  the 
standard  of  the  pre-Christian  centuries,  man  will  have  to 
serve  mechanisation  as  the  form  of  his  material  life.  Three 
of  the  functions  of  mechanisation  suffice  to  give  it  dominion 
over  material  activities  on  earth :  the  division  of  labour, 
the  control  of  masses,  and  the  mastery  of  forces.  No  one 
will  seriously  propose  that  men  should  voluntarily  renounce 
the  conquest  of  nature ;  no  one  will  suggest  that  in  a  false 
simplicity  they  should  seek  to  live  a  miserably  restricted 
life,  forgetting  all  that  they  have  learned,  and  striving 
towards  the  artificial  reconstruction  of  a  primitive  state. 
Utterly  foolish  is  the  idea  of  those  who,  fleeing  in  weariness 
from  the  great  cities,  seek  solitude  in  some  exquisite  rural 
scene,  pursuing  the  simple  life  with  the  aid  of  a  good  book 
and  a  lute,  fancying  the  while  that  they  have  eluded 
mechanisation,  and  even  conceiving  that  they  have  destroyed 
the  whole  system.  For  in  actual  practice,  mechanisation 
is  indivisible ;  who  wills  a  part,  wills  the  whole.  That  one 
axe  may  be  on  sale  in  the  market,  thousands  of  men  must 
dig  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth ;  if  a  single  sheet  of  paper 
is  to  be  made,  whole  forests  must  be  consumed  in  the  paper- 
making  machines ;  if  a  single  postcard  is  to  reach  its 
destination,  all  the  railways  of  the  world  must  tremble 
beneath  the  thunder  of  the  locomotives.  An  involuntary 
cheat  and  an  unconscious  exploiter  is  he  who  would  fain 
allow  mechanisation  to  persist  in  carefully  chosen  forms. 
Such  shepherds  of  arcady  should  cast  away  the  last  thread 
of  spun  yarn,  the  last  seed  of  a  cultivated  plant,  the  last 


28       IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

fragment  of  coined  money.  But  when  they  have  done  so, 
they  will  be  hard  put  to  it  to  find  upon  the  earth  a  hand- 
breadth  of  space  whereon  they  can  play  the  Robinson 
Crusoe. 

The  essence  of  mechanisation  involves  universality ; 
through  this  system,  the  world  is  unconsciously  brought 
into  a  compulsory  association,  into  an  absolutely  continuous 
community  of  production  and  of  economic  life.  Since  it 
has  been  a  spontaneous  growth,  and  has  not  been  imposed 
by  deliberate  volition,  since  no  decree  but  only  a  general 
necessity  controls  labour  and  distribution,  to  the  individual 
this  colossal  working  community  assumes  the  aspect  not 
of  solidarity  but  of  strife.  It  is  solidarity  in  so  far  as  the 
race  maintains  itself  by  purposive  activities,  and  in  so  far 
as  each  one  of  us  supports  himself  by  joining  hands  with  his 
fellows.  It  is  strife  in  so  far  as  the  individual  receives  as  his 
share  of  work  and  enjoyment  so  much  only  as  he  can  secure 
for  himself  by  struggle  and  by  force.  The  determinist  kernel 
of  the  mechanical  system  of  organisation  is  to  be  found  in 
the  brutally  unregulated  character  of  its  impulsive  and 
unconscious  energies.  I  insist  on  the  matter  here  for  the 
first  time,  and  shall  subsequently  enlarge  upon  the  topic. 
As  a  world  phenomenon,  this  aspect  of  mechanisation,  in 
so  far  as  it  depends  upon  the  community  of  our  contest 
with  the  forces  of  nature,  is  neither  good  nor  evil,  but  simply 
necessary.  It  comes  about  because  united  we  can  work 
to  better  effect  than  we  can  work  individually,  and  because 
concentration  and  organisation  are  indispensable  to  the 
ordering  of  life's  forces.  No  matter  in  what,  planetary 
home,  any  quasi-human  population  whose  numbers  have 
grown  considerable  and  whose  intelligence  is  adequate,  will 
display  a  collective  phenomenon  tantamount  to  what  we 
know  as  mechanisation.  Upon  the  spiritual  strength  of 
the  members  of  this  community  will  it  depend,  whether 
they  are  subordinated  to  the  obscure  will  of  the  mechanism, 
or  whether  they  master  its  compulsion. 

On  our  own  planet,  mechanisation  has  fulfilled  a  large 
portion  of  its  task.  Under  the  form  of  civilisation,  it  has 
paved  the  way  for  an  outward  understanding,  has  created 
the  possibility  of  a  tolerably  frictionless  vital  association 
and  organic  construction.  By  the  appropriate  methods  of 


THE        GOAL  29 

production  and  commerce,  it  has  ensured  the  provision  of 
food,  clothing,  and  shelter  for  the  manifold  and  continually 
increasing  populations  of  the  woild,  seeing  that  it  has 
developed  the  natural  resources  of  the  earth,  centralising 
manufacture  and  decentralising  distribution.  Under  the 
aegis  of  capitalism  it  has  secured  the  requisite  concentration 
of  the  working  powers  of  mankind,  and  has  directed  these 
powers  towards  orderly  and  unitary  goals.  As  a  national 
and  municipal  organisation,  it  has  endeavoured  to  give 
expression  to  every  manifestation  of  grouped  will,  and  to 
make  the  general  consciousness  intelligible.  Under  the 
form  of  journalism,  it  guides  every  impression  received  by 
the  community  towards  the  perceptive  centre  of  that  com- 
munity. In  the  sphere  of  politics,  it  aims  at  the  delimi- 
tation of  nationality,  and  at  promoting  the  division  of  labour 
among  the  nations.  Under  the  form  of  science,  it  aspires 
towards  a  collective  study  of  the  world  spirit.  In  the 
domain  of  technical  progress,  it  equips  our  intelligence  for 
the  struggle  with  natural  forces. 

No  part  of  the  world  is  now  closed  to  us ;  no  material 
tasks  are  beyond  our  powers ;  all  the  treasures  of  earth 
are  within  our  grasp ;  no  thought  remains  hidden ;  every 
undertaking  can  be  put  to  the  test  and  realised. 

As  far  as  material  construction  goes,  mankind  has  grown 
to  become  an  almost  finished  organism,  one  which  envelops 
the  globe  with  senses,  nerve  fibres,  thought  organs,  a  circu- 
latory system,  and  a  tactile  apparatus ;  one  which  penetrates 
the  earth's  crust  and  exploits  the  earth's  energies. 

No  developmental  path  leads  from  the  organic  to  the 
disorderly.  Other  types  of  organisation  than  that  of 
mechanisation  are  conceivable  ;  nevertheless,  in  virtue  of 
their  material  significance,  these  also  will  invariably  build 
up  a  material  structure,  one  which  concentrates  human 
energies  for  the  control  of  natural  forces ;  nevertheless, 
they  will  invariably  expose  life  to  the  same  danger  and 
oppression — in  so  far  as  the  forces  of  the  soul  fail  to 
master  them. 

It  was,  however,  excusable  that  the  world  should  have 
been  intoxicated  by  its  first  works  of  unification  ;  it  was 
natural  enough  that  the  world  should  have  believed  the 


30       IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

material  edifice  to  be  habitable  by  the  spirit,  that  it  should 
have  placed  its  thought  and  understanding,  its  feeling  and 
its  volition,  at  the  service  of  the  order  it  had  created.  And 
yet,  although  the  building  is  still  far  from  having  been 
pushed  up  to  the  topmost  storey,  the  consciousness  of  man- 
kind is  astir.  For  the  nonce,  only  in  a  crudely  mechanical 
sense ;  the  disinherited  are  in  revolt ;  they  wish  to  destroy 
the  sensual  and  mechanical  order,  that  they  may  replace 
it  by  another  sensual  and  mechanical  order  which  seems 
juster  to  their  imaginations  and  which  promises  to  be  more 
liberal  in  its  gifts.  Even  the  members  of  the  privileged 
classes  suffer  from  a  sense  of  oppression.  They  deplore 
the  decline  in  aesthetic  and  moral  values ;  they  would  like 
to  bring  the  old  days  back ;  they  are  willing  to  sacrifice 
such  portions  of  the  indivisible  mechanisation  as  seem  to 
them  irrelevant,  such  parts  as  are  unessential  to  their  own 
interests  or  to  their  own  comfort.  Above  all,  however, 
there  is  a  dawning  consciousness  that  the  system  is  in- 
equitable. People  are  beginning  to  realise  that  no  one, 
not  even  the  most  fortunate,  is  safe  from  inner  shipwreck, 
that  greater  things  are  at  stake  than  simple  material  loss. 
The  skirmish  is  still  no  more  than  an  affair  of  outposts,  for 
the  essential  nature  and  the  integral  might  of  mechanisation 
are  as  yet  neither  recognised  nor  understood.  Such  ques- 
tions as  our  general  outlook  on  the  universe,  capitalism, 
poverty,  and  technical  methods,  are  discussed  in  isolation, 
apart  from  the  central  problem.  There  is  no  proper 
orientation.  By  turns,  humanity,  justice,  culture,  a  balance, 
politics,  interest,  tradition,  nationality,  aesthetics,  is  regarded 
as  the  core.  Here  we  see  the  uneasy  conscience  of  the  age, 
here  we  see  its  inward  misgivings  at  work.  We  have  availed 
ourselves  of  mechanisation  for  the  sake  of  its  integrating 
powers ;  we  have  now  to  call  it  to  account  concerning  its 
secret  tendencies  to  promote  disintegration. 

i.  Mechanisation  is  a  material  order ;  constructed  out 
of  material  will  with  material  means,  it  gives  earthly 
activity  a  trend  towards  the  unspiritual.  None  can  wholly 
escape  this  trend  ;  in  the  mechanistic  sense,  even  the  most 
highly  spiritualised  human  being  remains  subject  to  the 
dominion  of  economic  law,  remains  one  who,  that  he  may 
live,  must  either  own  or  earn.  The  world  has  become  a 


THE        GOAL  31 

place  of  trade  and  stewardship,  and  everyone  must  bear 
the  impress  and  take  the  colour  of  his  time. 

For  centuries,  constraint  has  been  exercised  upon  the 
human  spirit  with  inevitable  effect.  The  era  of  the  division 
of  labour  demands  specialisation.  If  the  spirit  has  to  move 
within  the  rigid  and  unchanging  norms  and  practical  rules 
of  some  specialised  calling,  the  while  in  a  thousand  varying 
ways  it  glimpses  the  misty  panorama  of  the  ruthlessly 
changing  succession  of  events,  it  readily  comes  to  regard 
the  small  as  great,  and  the  great  as  small ;  shallow  views 
prevail ;  trivial  and  irresponsible  judgments  are  favoured. 
Admiration  and  wonder  perish  amid  the  clamour  for  novelty 
and  sensationalism ;  everything  is  meanly  estimated  by 
number  and  by  size ;  thought  becomes  dimensional.  And 
while  size  and  number  guide  our  estimate  of  things,  success 
guides  our  valuation  of  action ;  thus  the  moral  sense  is 
deadened,  just  as  weighing  and  measuring  dulls  our  sense 
of  quality.  The  consequences  of  hasty  judgment  are  inevit- 
able ;  we  have  to  pay  for  error  and  illusion ;  our  minds 
grow  sceptical.  We  no  longer  wish  to  get  into  things,  but 
to  get  behind  things ;  we  desire  to  drive  men  and  forces ; 
we  lose  the  sense  of  shame.  Knowledge  is  power,  we  say, 
and  time  is  money ;  thus  knowledge  passes  unrecognised, 
and  time  is  wasted  joylessly.  The  things  themselves, 
neglected  and  despised,  no  longer  furnish  joy,  for  they  have 
become  means  to  other  ends.  Everything  is  means  to  an 
end,  thing,  man,  nature,  God ;  behind  them,  spectral  and 
unreal,  stands  the  thing-in-itself  of  the  endeavour — the  goal. 
The  unattained,  for  ever  unattainable,  for  ever  unrecognised  ; 
a  confused  representative  amalgam  of  security,  life,  posses- 
sion, honour,  and  power,  of  which  as  much  is  destroyed  as 
is  attained — a  will  o'  the  wisp  which  at  our  death  is  just 
as  remote  as  it  was  when  we  first  sought  to  approach  it. 
In  menacing  opposition  thereto,  more  real  and  a  thousand- 
fold overvalued,  rises  the  dread  spectre  of  want.  Allured 
and  driven  by  these  phantoms,  man  wanders  from  the 
unreal  to  the  unreal.  This  he  terms  living,  working,  and 
creating ;  this  he  bequeathes,  as  curse  and  as  blessing,  to 
those  whom  he  loves. 

The  condition  thus  achieved  by  the  mechanised  spirit 
is  nothing  more  than  the  primitive  condition  of  the  lower 


32      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

races  spurred  on  into  the  frenzied  life  of  our  great  cities, 
the  work  of  those  who,  at  once  terror-impelled  and  seeking 
a  goal,  have  in  their  impetus  fashioned  our  epoch.  It  is 
more  than  an  atavism  ;  it  is  a  sinking  down  of  all  those  who 
enjoyed  the  draught,  into  the  depths  where  dwelt  the  obscure 
beings  who  brewed  it.  Thus  at  the  zenith  of  civilisation, 
we  are  doomed  to  experience  the  life,  the  moods,  the  anxiety, 
and  the  joys,  which  our  forbears  granted  their  slaves. 

This  mood,  however,  is  endeavour  and  illusion.  An 
endeavour  to  which  no  goal  seems  adequate,  and  which  is 
nevertheless  so  irrational  that  it  comes  at  last  to  regard  toil 
as  an  end  in  itself ;  an  endeavour  that  is  so  earthbound 
that  it  gleans  by  the  wayside  everything  which  glitters,  and 
marches  gravewards  burdened  with  the  dead  freight  of 
things  which  are  but  means  to  an  end.  It  is  an  illusion  to 
which  no  fact  is  real  enough,  to  which  no  knowledge  is  too 
trivial,  and  which  nevertheless  shrinks  from  all  which  is 
profound ;  it  is  an  illusion  which  disarticulates  and  de- 
spiritualises  the  world,  which  slays  the  sense  for  mortal 
life  and  scorns  the  sense  for  immortality. 

Our  pleasures  are  those  of  children,  slaves,  and  the  baser 
sorts  of  women :  possessions  which  sparkle  and  arouse 
envy  ;  amusement ;  sensuous  intoxication.  The  delight  in 
possession  becomes  accentuated  to  a  mad  hunger  for  com- 
modities, an  appetite  which  grows  a  hundredfold  by  what 
it  feeds  on,  inasmuch  as  year  after  year,  as  the  outcome 
of  satiety  and  by  the  decrees  of  fashion,  the  treasure 
chambers  must  be  emptied  of  their  now  unvalued  goods, 
to  be  filled  with  new  absurdities  and  fresh  gawds.  Utterly 
debasing  are  the  pleasures  of  the  great  city,  and  the 
pleasures  of  that  society  which,  in  unconscious  irony,  terms 
itself  "  good."  If  a  thinker,  if  a  lover  of  his  fellows  who 
has  visited  the  places  where  such  people  seek  enjoyment, 
or  where  (to  use  the  common  word  of  common  speech)  they 
amuse  themselves,  and  can  then  turn  away  without  having 
felt  even  a  moment's  despair  of  the  future  of  mankind,  his 
confidence  in  the  world  has  indeed  endured  the  hardest 
test.  Intoxication,  pleasure,  and  crime,  well  up  out  of 
poisons  and  stimulants,  for  whose  provision  there  is  requisite 
three  times  as  much  energy  as  is  devoted  by  the  world  to 
all  the  tasks  of  civilisation. 


THE        GOAL  33 

2.  Mechanisation  is  a  coercive  organisation,  and  it  there- 
fore restricts  human  freedom. 

The  individual  no  longer  finds  the  measure  of  his  work 
and  of  his  leisure  in  the  needs  of  his  life,  but  in  a  rule  external 
to  himself,  in  competition.  It  does  not  suffice  that  he 
should  work  in  accordance  with  the  standard  of  his  own 
powers  and  wishes  ;  his  contribution  is  estimated  by  com- 
parison with  that  which  others  contribute.  Half  work  or 
slow  work  is  valueless,  being  regarded  as  no  better  than 
idling.  The  work  of  the  world,  from  that  of  the  military 
commander  to  that  of  the  postman,  from  that  of  the 
journeyman  to  that  of  the  financier,  is  under  the  harrow 
of  the  competitive  wage  system ;  from  each  one  there  is 
demanded  just  as  much  as  another  can  do.  The  handi- 
craftsman of  earlier  days  gave  the  finishing  touches  to  his 
creative  work  in  the  spirit  of  love  and  beauty,  whereas 
mechanisation  produces  under  the  sign  of  submission. 
A  minimum  of  quality  and  quantity  is  prescribed ;  the 
lowest  price  is  the  best ;  love  is  not  remunerated.  The 
limit  of  tension  is  reached  in  the  struggle  between  the 
groups  which  grow  larger  until  they  reach  the  dimensions 
of  nations ;  and  this  struggle  between  groups  is  decided 
by  the  preponderance  of  a  sum  of  objective  forces,  wherein 
the  influence  of  the  individual  is  nil.  Man  is  not  even  free 
in  the  choice  and  regulation  of  his  activities.  It  matters 
not  whether  an  individual  is  best  fitted  for  specialisation 
or  for  generalisation ;  our  mechanistic  order  will  use  him 
as  a  specialist.  Mankind  readily  yields  to  this  coercion, 
generating  the  born  commercial  traveller  and  the  born 
school  teacher,  just  as  it  generates  the  born  managing 
engineer  and  the  born  entomologist.  Nay  more,  it  pro- 
duces the  various  types  in  whatever  number  and  kind  may 
be  prescribed  by  necessity  and  by  pressure  of  population. 
Recalcitrancy  is  punished.  If  there  should  appear  now  and 
again  some  man  of  the  old  type, — warrior,  explorer,  handi- 
craftsman, prophet, — he  is  expelled  from  the  working 
hive,  is  maligned,  or  is  degraded  to  the  basest  and  most 
undifferentiated  service. 

Coercion  goes  yet  further.  Men  are  deprived  even  of 
their  personal  responsibility.  For  the  organisatory  essence 
of  mechanisation  does  not  rest  until  each  of  its  parts  and 

3 


34      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

each  of  its  integral  wholes  has  in  turn  become  an  organism. 
Thus  all  the  gaps  are  filled  in,  just  as  in  the  realm  of  animate 
nature  every  element,  however  small,  however  great,  pre- 
sents itself  as  an  organon.  Cooperatives,  unions,  firms, 
societies,  leagues,  bureaucracy,  occupational,  political,  and 
ecclesiastical  organisations,  unite  and  divide  humanity  in 
a  web  of  incalculable  complexity.  No  one  stands  on  his 
own  feet ;  everyone  is  under  subjection,  everyone  is 
responsible  to  others.  This  state  of  affairs,  elevating  in 
the  splendour  of  the  conception  and  in  the  elemental 
grandeur  of  a  destiny  uncreated  by  human  hands,  becomes 
a  sterile  slavery  in  those  vast  twilit  and  obscure  regions 
ruled,  not  by  self-conscious  responsibility,  but  by  calcu- 
lating interest.  It  is  true  that  the  handicraftsman  in  the 
medieval  guild  was  dependent,  but  not  in  the  sense  wherein 
the  commercial  employee  is  dependent ;  the  craftsman's 
dependence  was  manifest,  indubitable,  and  was  neverthe- 
less fulfilled  with  inner  freedom.  The  working  of  the 
mechanistic  system  is  masked  by  an  illusion  of  freedom. 
The  malcontent  can  formally  demand  consideration,  can 
say  what  he  thinks,  can  throw  up  his  job  and  seek  work 
elsewhere,  can  emigrate  ;  but  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  weeks, 
though  in  respect  of  names,  persons,  and  localities  he  will 
ostensibly  be  in  a  new  environment,  the  circumstances  of 
his  life  will  be  substantially  unchanged.  The  anonymity 
of  the  all-encircling  unfreedom  has  a  quasi-magical  influence  ; 
it  achieves  what  the  despotisms  and  oligarchies  of  earlier 
days  could  never  achieve  with  their  army  of  catchpolls 
and  spies  ;  it  stabilises  dependence. 

This  individual  coercion,  however,  is  but  a  minor  evil 
in  comparison  with  the  mass  manifestation  which  overlies 
it.  Mechanisation  as  a  mass  organisation  requires  human 
energy,  not  in  units,  but  in  streams.  All  the  slaves  who 
built  the  pyramids  of  the  Pharaohs  would  not  suffice  even 
as  a  corps  of  toolmakers  for  a  modern  land  ;  the  military 
strength  of  Napoleon  would  not  provide  numbers  sufficient 
for  the  working  population  of  a  contemporary  mining 
district.  Our  populations  must  be  ready  to  arrange  and 
continually  rearrange  themselves  in  the  changing  armies 
of  toil,  for  our  machines  with  their  million  upon  million 
of  horsepower  require  millions  upon  millions  of  centaur 


THE         GOAL  35 

attendants.  Not  through  any  inner  determinism  of  the 
principle  of  mechanisation,  but  in  virtue  of  the  willingly 
accepted  accompaniments  of  this  evolution,  has  it  resulted 
that  the  inevitable  division  of  labour  between  mental  and 
bodily  effort  has  become  perpetual  and  hereditary.  Thereby, 
in  every  civilised  country,  two  nations  have  been  created, 
kindred  by  blood  and  yet  for  ever  sundered.  These  now 
stand  opposed  just  as  in  former  days  the  racially  dis- 
tinct upper  stratum  and  lower  stratum  of  population  stood 
opposed.  Both  are  segregated  and  controlled  by  the 
coercion  of  the  dominant  system.  None  belonging  to  the 
upper  stratum  can  descend  without  loss  of  bourgeois  caste 
and  consciousness,  without  renouncing  customary  associa- 
tions, means  of  enjoyment,  and  culture.  None  belonging 
to  the  lower  stratum  can  make  his  way  upwards  without 
an  initial  stroke  of  luck  which  gives  him  possession  of  capital 
or  intellectual  qualification.  Such  a  stroke  of  luck,  apart 
from  the  chances  afforded  by  emigration,  is  so  extra- 
ordinarily rare,  that  among  the  thousands  of  middle-class 
employees  who  come  under  the  notice  of  our  captains  of 
industry,  hardly  one  is  the  son  of  a  genuine  proletarian. 

This  segregative  coercion  is  unprecedent.edly  severe  for 
those  who  belong  to  the  second  of  these  two  nations. 
Helotry,  bondslavery,  and  serfdom  were  types  of  dependence 
based  upon  agricultural  production.  The  work  of  the  serf, 
while  harder  and  less  lucrative  than  that  of  the  free  land- 
worker,  was  of  the  same  kind.  The  serf  could  enjoy  the 
amenities  of  rural  life,  though  under  supervision,  and  sub- 
ject to  the  compulsory  docking  of  the  yield  of  his  labour. 
The  proletarian  in  his  work  enjoys  the  before-mentioned 
alluring  anonymity  of  dependence ;  he  does  not  receive 
orders,  but  instructions ;  he  does  not  obey  a  master  but 
a  foreman  ;  he  does  not  serve,  but  works  voluntarily  as 
a  freeman ;  his  human  rights  are  identical  with  those  of 
the  other  party  to  the  contract ;  he  is  free  to  live  where 
he  pleases  ;  the  power  which  controls  him  is  no  longer 
individual,  for  even  though  it  appears  to  be  that  of  an 
individual  employer  or  an  individual  firm,  it  is  in  reality 
that  of  bourgeois  society.  Nevertheless  his  life,  despite  this 
specious  freedom,  is  passed  generation  after  generation  in 
wearisome  monotony.  No  one  who  has  spent  but  a  few 


36      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

months  in  the  leaden  atmosphere  of  a  factory,  longing  for 
whistle-blow  from  seven  till  twelve  and  from  one  till  six, 
can  fail  to  realise  how  much  self-denial  is  demanded  by 
a  life  of  soulless  labour  ;  never  again  will  he  attempt,  either 
by  religious  or  by  secular  argument,  to  justify  such  a  mode 
of  life  or  to  represent  it  as  one  which  can  bring  satisfaction  ; 
never  will  he  decry  as  the  outcome  of  greed  all  attempts  to 
mitigate  its  dreariness.  But  when  the  observer  comes  to 
understand  that  this  life  is  unending,  that  the  dying  pro- 
letarian realises  he  must  bequeath  the  same  fate  as  an 
irrevocable  legacy  to  his  children  and  his  children's  children, 
the  conscience  cannot  but  be  profoundly  touched.  Our  age 
clamours  for  governmental  interference  when  a  cab-horse 
is  illtreated,  and  yet  it  seems  to  most  of  us  perfectly  right 
and  reasonable  that  a  nation  should  for  centuries  lay  this 
yoke  upon  its  brother  nation.  A  chorus  of  indignation 
arises  when  the  members  of  the  oppressed  class  refuse  to 
vote  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  existing  system.  The 
crude  dogma  of  socialism  is  a  product  of  this  bourgeois 
mood.  It  is  at  the  same  time  a  profound  necessity  and 
a  scintillating  paradox  that  this  dogma  must  become  the 
main  prop  of  throne,  altar,  and  bourgeoisie — inasmuch  as 
liberalism  has  been  panic-stricken  at  sight  of  the  red  spectre 
of  expropriation,  so  that  the  liberals  have  abandoned  free 
and  independent  thought,  and  have  sought  protection  in 
the  ranks  of  the  powers  that  be. 

As  far  as  the  dominant  stratum  in  the  nation  is  con- 
cerned, the  coercive  segregation  imposed  by  the  mechanistic 
system  is  not  a  need  but  a  danger.  It  would  seem  to  be 
a  law  of  nature  that  every  organism  which  is  relieved  even 
to  a  small  extent  from  the  struggle  for  existence,  thrives 
at  first  luxuriantly,  and  then  undergoes  relaxation  of  fibre 
and  falls  into  decay.  Of  old,  those  who  experienced  this 
fate  were  overthrown  by  conquering  invaders,  and  were 
brought  into  recreative  contact  with  the  soil.  The  lords 
of  the  earth  are  no  longer  conquistadors ;  a  mere  reversal 
of  the  strata  would  lead  to  the  play  being  replayed  with 
changed  roles,  but  not  with  renewed  energies ;  the  end 
would  be  lamentable.  Relief  from  the  burden  of  bodily 
toil  has  been  followed  by  a  regime  of  intellectual  strain 
which  has  sterilised  our  great  cities  both  mentally  and 


THE        GOAL  37 

physically,  thus  preparing  for  the  arrest  of  the  growth  of 
population  in  the  western  world. 

If  we  survey  this  phenomenon  of  compulsory  stratifi- 
cation, which  must  be  ascribed  to  the  unceasing  endeavour 
of  mechanisation  towards  organisation  and  the  division  of 
labour,  we  see  once  more  that  the  movement  has  circled 
back  to  the  realm  of  sensation  and  action  characteristic  of 
its  obscure  primal  progenitors.  It  has  not  resulted  in  the 
abolition  of  the  original  status  of  slavery.  Christianity  and 
western  civilisation  notwithstanding,  mechanisation  has 
known  how  to  impose  a  relationship  of  servitude  wherein, 
without  legal  coercion,  without  manifest  lordship,  but 
through  the  mere  course  of  ostensibly  free  economic  insti- 
tutions, there  has  been  established  a  system  of  dependence 
of  stratum  upon  stratum  which,  though  anonymous  and 
speciously  reversible,  is  in  reality  inviolable  and  hereditary. 

3.  Mechanisation  did  not  originate  out  of  a  free  and 
deliberate  purpose,  by  the  power  of  man's  ethically  en- 
lightened will ;  it  was  generated  unintentionally,  and  indeed 
unnoticed,  out  of  the  law  of  population.  Notwithstanding 
its  intensely  rational  and  coherently  logical  structure,  it  is 
an  automatic  and  unconscious  natural  process.  Reposing 
non-morally  upon  the  balance  of  forces,  upon  struggle  and 
self-help,  much  as  an  equilibrium  of  competing  vital  forces 
was  secured  among  the  organisms  of  a  primeval  forest, 
mechanisation  generalises  an  outlook  upon  the  world  which, 
leaping  backwards  in  its  kinship  over  the  early  labours  of 
Christianity  and  over  the  political  and  theocratic  ethics  of 
Mediterranean  civilisation,  aspires  once  more,  though  under 
the  cloak  and  mask  of  civilisation,  towards  the  condition 
of  primitive  humanity.  For  its  outlook,  its  mood,  is  one 
of  struggle  and  enmity. 

The  human  heart  beats  too  ardently,  thirsting  after 
sustenance  and  love,  for  hatred  to  find  open  expression  as 
a  world-devouring  flame  ;  but  the  harder  and  more  stiff- 
necked  the  generation  which  suffers  from  mechanisation, 
the  more  fiercely  does  the  inward  fire  rage  within  the  groaning 
apparatus. 

Man  of  earlier  days  poured  his  energy  and  his  love  into 
his  work.  He  existed  foi  the  sake  of  the  thing.  Other 
human  beings  stood  without  the  circle  of  his  interest ;  he 


38      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

had  need  of  them  at  rare  intervals,  for  barter,  for  mutual 
protection,  or  for  service.  Within  a  narrow  circle  were 
his  most  intimate  associates,  his  own  people  whom  he 
cherished  ;  somewhat  more  remote  were  the  comrades  to 
whom  he  was  leal ;  at  a  much  greater  distance  were  the 
enemies,  those  with  whom  he  fought.  The  man  of  to-day 
does  not  live  for  the  sake  of  a  thing.  He  strives  for  the 
neutral  good  of  possession,  for  the  incorporeal  notion  of 
a  relative  but  indefinitely  extensible  sphere  of  influence. 
The  content  of  his  life  is  not  the  affair  upon  which  he  is 
actually  engaged,  which  becomes  no  more  than  means  to 
an  end ;  what  concerns  him  is  his  career.  He  must  hew 
out  this  career  for  himself  through  human  walls.  Whither- 
soever he  looks,  wherever  he  would  fain  set  his  foot,  there 
stands  another,  and  that  other  is  his  enemy.  That  he  may 
breach  the  opposing  wall,  he  makes  use  of  his  comrade,  of 
his  followers.  Not  from  love  does  he  lead  them,  not  from 
love  do  they  follow  him,  but  from  interest.  Each  is  but 
means  to  the  other's  end,  a  means  to  be  cast  aside  when 
it  is  no  longer  of  service.  To  the  manufacturer,  his  fellow 
man  is  a  competitor,  that  is  to  say  an  enemy ;  the  con- 
sumer is  a  means  ;  the  man  who  supplies  him  with  raw 
material  is  an  enemy,  his  business  partner  is  a  means.  He 
wants  something  from  everyone  with  whom  he  comes  in 
contact,  and,  conversely,  everyone  who  encounters  him 
wishes  to  get  something  out  of  him  ;  both  are  on  their 
guard,  and  their  reciprocal  mood  is  one  of  hostility  and 
mistrust.  Consequently  every  one  looks  upon  it  as  dan- 
gerous on  the  one  hand  and  as  ill-mannered  on  the  other 
to  awaken  the  human  being  in  the  stranger.  It  is  tradi- 
tional good  manners  to  treat  the  stranger  as  if  he  were 
non-existent,  until  the  barren  convention  of  an  introduction 
has  secured  the  customary  safeguard  of  a  cold  respect. 
The  philanthropic  enthusiast  who  ventures  to  disregard 
convention,  is  met  with  chill  repulsion  unless  he  has  some- 
thing to  offer  ;  but  if  he  can  show  anything  worth  coveting, 
he  will  soon  be  made  to  feel  as  a  reward  of  his  frank  confi- 
dence that  he  has  been  degraded  to  the  position  of  a  means. 
He  rightly  shares  the  fate  of  those  who  wish  to  put  an  end 
to  a  generalised  state  by  individual  experiments,  instead 
of  by  working  upon  the  mind  and  conscience  of  all.  That 


THE        GOAL  39 

is  why  men  are  so  ready  to  complain  of  one  another  and  to 
warn  one  another,  why  they  boast  of  their  unfortunate 
experiences,  and  why  they  declare  themselves  pessimists 
concerning  the  human  race.  They  do  not  know  that  they 
are  condemning  themselves.  For  enmity  and  baseness  are 
not  inherent  in  human  nature ;  man's  heart  is  tender,  like 
his  bare  skin,  sensitive  to  pain  and  inclined  towards  affec- 
tion. If  the  heart  grows  hard,  it  is  through  fear,  through 
dread  of  the  slave's  scourge  of  mechanisation,  which  never 
rests,  the  scourge  whose  hiss  signifies  hunger,  contumely, 
injustice,  suffering,  and  death.  In  truth,  these  warning 
notes  are  not  in  themselves  terrible,  but  ways  to  salvation. 
Yet  this  is  true  only  for  one  who  has  faith.  Mechanisation 
has  been  far-seeing  enough  to  buy  man's  faith,  giving  him 
in  exchange  a  trifle  of  knowledge  and  sorcery. 

Enmity  between  man  and  man  grows  to  enmity  between 
group  and  group,  tribe  and  tribe,  nation  and  nation.  Man 
has  become  an  interested  party.  Some  pitiful  theory  or 
other  has  promised  him  and  his  kind  relief  from  all  concern. 
They  unite  to  form  what  they  call  a  party  or  a  represen- 
tation of  their  interests.  Turning  their  grievances  inside  out, 
they  generalise  them  to  constitute  a  positive  ideal  notion, 
and  then  wax  indignant  because  their  opponents,  who  have 
set  out  from  other  interests,  do  not  reach  the  same  ideal. 
In  this  age  so  prolific  in  varieties,  nothing  is  harder  to  find 
than  a  man  whose  conviction  and  ideal  are  not  on  all  fours 
with  his  interest.  This  distressing  experience  culminates  in 
the  realisation  that  there  are  serious  thinkers  who  will  no 
longer  acknowledge  that  a  philosophy,  a  transcendental 
conviction,  can  exist  as  a  form  of  intuition,  as  a  reflection 
of  the  eternal ;  they  rather  regard  these  as  modified  repre- 
sentations of  character  and  interests,  look  upon  them  as 
a  sort  of  clinical  history — in  a  word,  an  idiosyncrasy.  To 
such  lengths  extends  belief  in  the  positiveness  of  interests, 
in  the  autocracy  of  the  intellect,  in  the  material  enslave- 
ment of  sentiment. 

What  interest  has  mechanisation  in  driving  its  victims 
to  use  their  powers  to  the  full  under  the  spur  of  anxiety 
and  need,  under  the  impulsion  of  enmity  and  struggle  ? 
Is  it  still  unrealised  that  all  which  is  greatest  in  the  world 
has  been  the  work  of  love  and  of  brotherly  fellowship  ? 


40      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

Can  there  still  be  a  doubt  that  while  need  can  in  truth 
break  iron,  faith  can  move  mountains  ? 

Even  if  mechanisation  should  have  an  inkling  of  these 
things,  it  resembles  therein  poor  Satan,  who  is  powerless 
on  the  heights.  It  has  pledged  itself  to  nourish,  to  amuse, 
and  to  enrich  the  human  race,  though  increased  a  thousand- 
fold in  numbers.  The  means  it  uses  are  choice  and  ingenious, 
and  yet  coarse,  for  mechanisation  is  born  of  coarse  necessity. 
It  drags  down  men  of  noble  fibre  that  it  may  exalt  the 
base — to  its  own  level,  no  higher.  It  recognises  its  typical 
material ;  it  has  destroyed  faith,  and  has  scant  confidence 
in  good  will ;  it  gains  its  ends  through  anxiety  and  suffer- 
ing. Where  generous  rivalry  does  not  suffice,  competition 
compels  ;  where  mutual  help  is  paralysed,  struggle  compels  ; 
where  national  fellowship  is  lacking,  class  stratification 
compels.  Invariably  too,  the  use  of  these  methods  is 
dominated  by  the  primevally  ancient  atavism  of  envy, 
hatred,  anxiety,  and  greed,  under  whose  sign  mechanisation 
was  begotten. 

Herein,  likewise,  does  it  bear  witness  to  its  origin,  in 
that  it  persecutes  those  who  are  not  created  after  its  own 
image.  The  man  of  freely  imaginative  mind,  the  dreamer 
of  divine  dreams,  the  devoted  friend  of  all  created  things, 
the  lover  who  takes  no  thought  of  the  morrow  and  knows 
naught  of  fear,  is  in  its  eyes  a  slothful  and  visionary  slave. 
For  a  brief  space  mechanisation  will  suffer  him  to  follow 
the  plough,  will  suffer  him  in  the  firing  line,  or  upon  foreign 
seas ;  but  ere  long  it  determines  to  replace  his  hand-tool 
by  a  machine,  and  himself  by  one  more  cunning  than  he. 
The  lover  of  mankind,  who  believes,  in  accordance  with 
the  words  of  the  ancient  scripture,  that  the  soul  is  bound 
to  blood,  is  overwhelmed  with  despair,  for  the  best  blood 
flows  irrevocably.  But  he  who  believes  that  the  spirit  has 
lordship  over  the  blood,  that,  from  the  stones  of  Abraham 
and  Deucalion,  seed  can  be  awakened,  will  esteem  this 
flowing  blood  as  the  offering  of  sacrifice,  which  brings 
promise  that  the  spirit  will  be  liberated  from  its  mechanistic 
bonds. 

We  know  that  all  the  goods  of  this  earth  are  nothing 
but  amorphous  raw  material,  neither  good  nor  evil,  neither 
valuable  nor  valueless,  until  they  are  reborn  to  a  second 


THE        GOAL  41 

nature.  The  good  which  derives  from  habit  and  kindly 
disposition,  but  which  has  not  been  reborn  out  of  the 
strength  of  the  heart,  is  not  a  good  ;  nature  is  not  nature 
unless  newly  created  by  the  seeing ;  the  masterpiece  wins 
its  freedom  in  that  by  art  it  is  reborn  to  nature ;  man  him- 
self, unillumined  by  self-knowledge,  and  ascent,  remains  in 
spiritual  matters  unborn.  Rebirth  by  self-knowledge  and 
free  will,  to  duty  and  the  work  of  love,  was  incompatible 
with  the  essence  of  mechanisation  ;  for  mechanisation  makes 
use  of  the  unimproved  method  of  nature  and  of  war,  on 
a  level  with  self-defence  before  the  coming  of  law,  or  with 
the  function  of  self-maintenance  in  days  that  knew  nothing 
of  property.  Nevertheless,  mechanisation  is  capable  of 
being  morally  permeated  with  spirit ;  the  state,  which  is 
the  highest  and  noblest  part  of  the  mechanistic  system,  has 
been  thus  permeated  through  a  premature  ordination,  and 
could  never  fulfil  its  mission  without  this  transfiguration. 
It  is  true  that  the  thousandfold  attributes  of  the  state  flow 
from  nobler  sources.  The  love  of  home,  tribal  comradeship, 
a  national  fellowship  of  culture  and  experience,  and  a  religio- 
theocratic  kinship  of  sensibility,  have  founded  the  realm  of 
the  state  in  the  supernatural.  But  the  decisive  point  is  the 
immanent  necessity  of  the  being,  not  its  origin.  The  decisive 
point  is  the  recognition  that  the  hallowed  institution  stands 
higher  than  the  need  of  the  individual ;  the  idea  that  man 
is  not  created  for  the  sake  of  earthly  happiness,  but  for 
the  fulfilment  of  a  divine  mission  ;  the  belief  that  the  human 
fellowship  is  not  as  it  were  a  joint  stock  association,  but 
a  home  for  the  soul.  This  unexpressed  consciousness,  which 
endows  even  the  most  imperfect  form  of  state  with  a  glimmer 
of  divinity,  must  in  due  time  awaken  for  every  form  and 
activity  of  material  life,  and  must  seize  and  permeate 
mechanisation  itself.  Activity  in  science  and  art,  in  the 
army  and  the  state,  has  always  involved  the  recognition 
that  no  work  exists  irresponsibly  for  itself  alone,  that  every 
work  owes  a  reckoning  to  itself  and  to  the  world,  that  all 
creation  is  connected  by  a  chain  of  duty  and  necessity,  that 
absolute  detachment  and  arbitrariness  are  stamped  with 
the  shame  of  selfishness  and  sensual  slavery.  The  con- 
sciousness must  awaken  that  to  an  equal  extent  all  material 
activity  and  everything  which  subserves  it,  signifies  a 


42      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

building  upon  the  earthly  and  super-earthly  frame  of 
humanity,  wherein  every  step  and  every  hand's  turn,  every 
thought  and  every  sound,  form  nuclei  and  cells.  The  con- 
sciousness must  awaken  that  responsibility  to  God  and 
gratitude  to  God  make  the  cause  of  each  the  cause  of  all 
and  the  cause  of  all  the  cause  of  each.  The  consciousness 
must  awaken  that  there  can  be  no  misfortune  and  no  crime 
for  which  we  do  not  share  a  common  responsibility  ;  that 
there  can  be  neither  right  nor  duty  nor  happiness  nor 
power,  apart  from  the  fate  of  all.  Should  mechanisation, 
too,  become  permeated  with  this  spiritual  consciousness,  it 
will  no  longer  be  an  empirical  condition  of  equilibrium.  It 
will  giow  upwards  and  onwards  as  a  genuine  organism,  will 
merge  into  the  totality  of  the  great  organon  of  creation,  so 
that,  with  unimpeded  flow  from  heart  to  heart  of  the  god- 
head, the  energies  will  freely  stream,  and  planetary  life  will 
attain  perfection  in  the  image  of  organic  theocracy. 

Let  us  hopefully  contemplate  the  range  of  the  mechan- 
istic manifestation.  On  the  technical  side,  the  mechanised 
order  can  adequately  fulfil  its  task,  which  is  to  nourish  and 
maintain  our  teeming  race.  A  notable  relationship  has 
been  established  with  the  forces  of  nature,  with  the  domain 
of  sensuous  experience.  In  practically  useful  thought,  in 
the  collection  and  distribution  of  physical  energy,  in  the 
mobility  of  masses  and  of  spirits,  successes  undreamed-of 
have  been  attained.  The  evil  of  mechanisation  begins 
where  the  untamed,  unspiritualised  force  gains  control  of 
the  inner  life,  where  the  vigorous  unchained  movement, 
grown  irresponsible  and  freed  from  the  obligations  of  service, 
debases  man,  who  should  be  the  master,  to  be  the  slave  of 
his  own  work.  Here  is  the  source  of  unfreedom,  insensate 
toil,  enmity,  need,  and  spiritual  death. 

Yet  it  is  within  the  power  of  man  to  bethink  himself, 
and  to  illumine  the  confusion  with  the  light  of  his  supra- 
sensual  vision.  He  will  not  abandon  mechanisation  as  a 
material  order,  until  new  acquisitions  and  insights  have 
taught  him  to  make  headway  against  the  forces  of  nature 
otherwise  than  by  organised  labour  and  research.  But  he 
will  wage  war  against  mechanisation  as  the  spiritual  mistress 
of  existence.  He  can  dethrone  her  as  soon  as  he  degrades 
practice  from  an  end  in  itself  to  a  means ;  as  soon  as  he 


THE        GOAL  43 

chooses  to  do  voluntarily  that  which  to-day  he  does  under 
coercion  ;  and  as  soon  as  he  is  willing  to  exchange  the  pitiful 
and  ignoble  happiness  of  separateness  for  the  blessing  of 
human  fellowship. 

When  we  turn  away  once  more  from  mechanisation  as 
an  objective  fact  and  when  we  comprehend  it  from  within 
as  a  spiritual  evolution,  we  realise  most  intensely  that  the 
only  thing  needed  is  a  reguidance  of  the  spiritual,  not  of  the 
mechanical.  In  this  light,  mechanisation  appears  to  us  as 
the  mighty  ascent  of  the  earthly  creature  towards  intellect, 
which,  through  the  unprecedented  number  of  its  supporters, 
through  the  precision,  steadfastness,  purposiveness,  ramifi- 
cation, and  concentration  of  its  organs,  keeps  in  motion 
an  enormous  mass  of  the  lowest  kind  of  spirit.  This  mass 
is  competent  to  maintain  a  balanced  opposition  to  the  blind 
will  of  nature  ;  and  the  first  thankful  impulse  of  the  recipient 
world  is  the  childlike  confidence  that  it  owes  happiness  and 
freedom  to  the  luxuriant  powers  of  the  intellect.  Here 
begins  error  and  need,  and  therewith  begins  healing.  With 
the  advance  of  thought,  there  has  at  length  ripened  the 
critical  insight  that,  while  intellect  suffices  for  the  arranging 
of  ideas,  it  does  not  suffice  to  furnish  understanding.  Inas- 
much as  this  insight  now  expands  to  the  recognition  that 
the  highest  duty  of  the  lower  forces  of  the  spirit  is  self- 
limitation,  self-suppression,  the  renunciation  of  all  claim  to 
act  as  guides — the  soil  is  now  made  ready  for  the  good  seed, 
which  from  the  dawning  of  the  days  has  remained  alive, 
though  slumbering,  in  the  recesses  of  the  human  heart. 
It  is  time  for  the  daybreak  of  the  soul !  If  to-day  we  can 
foreshadow  its  image,  if  to-day  we  can  give  ourselves  up 
to  its  powers,  we  have  to  thank  the  need  of  the  epoch  in 
which  intellectualism  was  dominant.  That  epoch  withers, 
now  that  its  fruit  has  ripened.  This  does  not  mean  that 
henceforward  man  will  renounce  the  right  of  thinking  and 
shaping.  This  right  will  be  practised  and  strengthened, 
but  always  with  the  full  consciousness  that  the  forces 
utilised  are  lower  forces,  born  to  service,  forces  which  must 
be  administered  in  a  sense  of  responsibility  and  lofty  mission. 
But  when  the  first  radiations  from  the  soul  touch  the 
intellectual  world  and  the  mechanistic  order  which  is  its 
form  of  realisation,  we  cannot  yet  say  which  of  the  fixities 


44      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

will  first  melt  away,  for  the  spring  is  being  brought  into 
the  world,  not  by  the  interconnection  of  secondary  hap- 
penings, but  by  the  approaching  sun  of  transcendental 
foreshadowing.  The  constructive  part  of  my  book  is  to  be 
understood  in  this  modest  sense.  Its  ultimate  aim  is  not 
to  provide  a  complete  inventory  of  earthly  activities  in 
temporal  series,  but  to  set  forth  realisable  forms  of  thought. 
Its  purpose  is  to  show  that  the  spiritual  guidance  of  life 
and  the  permeation  of  the  mechanistic  order  with  spirit, 
will  transform  the  blind  play  of  forces  into  a  fully  conscious 
and  free  cosmos,  into  a  cosmos  worthy  of  mankind. 


The  task  still  hovers  above  us,  undisclosed  and  unnamed. 
We  have  formed  an  estimate  of  the  condition  of  the  environ- 
ing world.  We  have  recognised  the  direction  that  leads  to 
freedom,  in  that  we  have  realised  that  the  star  we  are 
following  points  the  way  to  the  soul.  It  now  behoves  us 
to  delineate  the  pragmatic  form  which  will  give  earthly 
lineaments  to  the  aspiring  thought,  which  will  make  it 
comprehensible  to  our  epoch.  The  metaphysical  task  must 
be  constrained  to  reveal  its  physical  counterpart. 

First  of  all  it  is  needful  to  say  a  plain  word  concerning 
material  institutions  and  projects. 

i.  What  advantage  for  the  inner  life  are  we  entitled  to 
expect  from  the  conditions  of  existence  and  from  the  forms 
of  life,  from  the  modification  of  these  conditions  and  forms  ? 
According  to  the  materialist  conception,  every  advantage. 
Man  owes  everything  to  environing  conditions ;  blood,  air 
and  earth,  situation  and  possession,  circumscribe  him  so 
completely,  that  to  every  change  in  external  conditions 
there  must  correspond  an  equivalent  modification  of  the 
internal  state.  This  seductive  error  is  one  of  the  strongest 
weapons  in  the  arsenal  of  materialism,  for  history  seems 
everywhere  to  confirm  it.  Have  not  the  changes  in  the 
earth's  crust  compelled  the  evolution  of  organisms  ?  Have 
not  the  migrations  of  the  human  race  been  determined  by 
physical  laws  ?  Is  not  the  nature  and  destiny  of  the  nations 
deducible  from  tribal  inheritance,  habitat,  and  environment 
In  general  ?  Is  not  the  individual  man  the  product  of  his 
ancestors  and  of  the  conditions  of  his  existence  ?  It  is 


THE        GOAL  45 

incontestable  that  the  centres  of  highest  civilisation  have 
always  coincided  with  the  centres  of  power,  of  dense  popu- 
lation, of  wealth.  Solitude,  poverty,  need,  the  sacred 
sources  of  spiritual  elevation,  have  never  bestowed  art  and 
thought  upon  a  people.  Maritime  nations,  we  are  informed, 
grow  clever.  Hellas,  Rome,  Venice,  Holland,  and  England, 
owe  their  might  to  the  sea.  Germany  grew  strong  in  virtue 
of  her  racial  stock  ;  France,  in  virtue  of  her  soil ;  America, 
in  virtue  of  her  geographical  situation.  All  this  seems  to 
be  true. 

But  if  we  subject  the  doctrine  to  the  ordeal  of  its  own 
methods,  confidence  is  speedily  shaken.  What  force  was 
it,  then,  which  drove  organic  creation  forward  amid  all 
the  transformations  of  the  globe  ?  Was  it  the  will  to  live  ? 
That  alone  could  not  make  fins  grow,  or  wings ;  that  alone 
could  not  teach  beings  to  speak  and  to  think.  Was  it  the 
racial  stock  ?  That  only  attained  nobility  through  this 
same  mysterious  will.  The  primal  ancestor  of  the  Aryan 
was  a  groping  creature,  far  lower  in  the  scale  than  the 
Mongols  and  the  Negroes.  Was  it  the  soil  ?  Were  not  all 
free  to  occupy  this  soil  ?  Did  not  the  strongest  and  most 
enlightened  gain  possession  of  it  ?  Once  more,  then,  we 
have  strength  and  race.  But  these  advantages  may  have 
been  due  to  chance. 

Enough  of  such  arguments.  They  presuppose  what 
they  have  to  prove,  assuming  that  body  stands  first  and 
spirit  second,  that  matter  forms  spirit.  If  we  believe  that 
we  are  creatures  of  the  flesh,  let  him  who  will,  say  soft  things 
of  life,  let  him  who  will,  flatter  it.  Wrestling  for  God  and 
our  soul  is  vain,  and  the  word  lies  with  those  who  exist  for 
the  useful  and  the  advantageous.  But  if  we  believe  that 
the  spirit  shapes  a  body  for  itself,  that  the  aspiring  will 
carries  the  world  upwards,  that  the  spark  of  divinity  lives 
within  us — then  man  is  his  own  work,  man's  destiny  is  his 
own  work,  man's  world  is  his  own  work.  If  this  be  so,  the 
maritime  nation  is  not  the  nation  upon  which  the  sea  has 
been  bestowed,  but  the  nation  that  wished  to  have  the  sea ; 
the  nation  which  has  the  treasures  of  the  earth  is  not  a 
nation  of  lucky  discoverers,  but  a  conquering  nation ;  the 
nation  whose  population  acquires  the  density  requisite  to 
progress  in  civilisation,  is  not  a  mere  breeding  horde,  but 


46      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

a  stock  desiring  progeny  and  preparing  a  land  for  it.  If 
this  be  so,  nobility  of  race  is  not  a  sport  of  nature,  but  a 
product  of  that  spirit  which  aspires  towards  self-development. 
We  are  ready  to  meet  the  rejoinder.  Why,  it  may  be 
asked,  should  we  prize  and  cultivate  forms  and  goods  of 
life,  if  it  be  not  they,  but  quiet  and  contemplation,  which 
create  the  highest  ?  Earthly  life  signifies  the  formation 
and  the  armament  which  can  be  given  to  the  spirit,  that  the 
spirit  may  be  enabled  to  fight  for  its  rights,  for  its  existence, 
and  for  the  future.  If  spirit  is  to  be  fit  for  the  invisible 
struggle,  it  must  likewise  be  fit  for  the  visible  struggle. 
A  noble  being  makes  beauty ;  a  healthy  being  makes 
happiness ;  a  strong  being  makes  power.  Not  for  these 
goods'  own  sake,  but  as  the  earthly  vesture  of  the  spiritual 
existence.  Not  in  strife  and  greed,  but  selflessly  and  spon- 
taneously. And  just  as  the  bearer  rules  the  weapon,  so 
does  the  weapon  react  upon  the  bearer ;  the  nation  which 
had  the  power  to  become  beautiful  finds  in  beauty  a  fresh 
spur  to  inner  nobility.  It  is  true  that  the  gates  of  the 
soul's  realm  are  flung  wide  for  the  poor  and  the  despised  ; 
but  the  will  of  the  poor  and  the  despised  gains  wings  when 
a  noble  nation  inspires  the  seeker  with  power  and  longing. 
To  be  voluntarily  poor  among  the  rich,  is  fine,  and  bears 
an  evangelical  stamp  ;  but  in  a  nation  of  beggars,  a  beggar 
offers  no  contrast,  and  acquires  no  specific  moral  merit. 
The  individual  man  is  an  end  in  himself.  In  him  terminates 
the  series  of  visible  creation,  and  in  him  the  series  of  the 
soul  begins.  If  in  him  the  soul's  energy  has  awakened, 
he  has  no  further  need  of  earthly  privileges  and  advantages. 
Poverty,  illness,  solitude,  must  serve  him  and  bless  him. 
But  the  nation  is  his  mother,  who  watches  over  him  in 
his  earthly  pilgrimage,  requiring  beauty,  health,  and  strength, 
for  the  eternal  work  of  generation.  Herein  is  solved  the 
contradiction,  What  does  it  signify  to  covet  nothing  for 
oneself,  and  yet  to  care  for  one's  neighbour,  who  neverthe- 
less in  his  turn  shall  covet  nothing  ?  Our  neighbours  and 
those  who  are  remote  from  us  are  alike  the  mothers  and 
the  brothers  of  us  all ;  the  sacrifice  of  our  individual  life 
is  a  small  price  to  pay  that  they  may  live  and  beget. 
Though,  therefore,  one  should  not  desire  goods  and  powers 
for  oneself,  it  is  neither  unworthy  nor  material-minded,  to 


THE        GOAL  47 

long  for  goods  and  powers  for  the  community  and  to  bestow 
them  on  the  community. 

2.  The  second  of  our  preliminary  questions  runs  as 
follows.  How  can  we  justify  practical  projects,  dedicated 
to  the  welfare  of  mankind  ?  What  demonstrative  power 
attaches  to  them ;  what  burden  of  proof  is  incumbent 
upon  them  ? 

It  has  been  contended  that  science  has  had  to  renounce 
the  right  of  finding  goals.  But  for  all  creative  thought, 
the  goal  is  decisive,  not  the  way  ;  the  question  is  more 
difficult  than  the  answer.  Furthermore,  it  is  easier  to  find 
the  answer  than  to  seek  it.  For  here  intellectual  power 
is  at  fault.  It  is  competent  to  assemble  a  list  of  grievances, 
to  enumerate  the  inconveniences  of  that  which  exists. 
Intellectual  power  is  competent  to  say,  This  ought  not  to 
be — though  incompetent  to  distinguish  between  ordeal  and 
evil,  between  the  need  that  brings  blessing  and  the  need 
that  is  harmful.  But  intellectual  power  can  never  decide 
what  is  allotted  and  attainable  as  the  highest  good  of  man- 
kind ;  can  never  say,  We  must  strive  for  this,  we  must 
wrestle  for  that.  All  our  will,  in  so  far  as  it  is  not  animal, 
springs  from  the  sources  of  the  soul.  Early  and  late  must 
we  repeat  to  those  whose  admiration  for  intellectualist 
thought  knows  no  bounds,  that  the  greater  and  nobler  part 
of  life  consists  in  willing.  But  all  willing  is  love  and  pre- 
dilection, not  a  thing  which  can  be  proved.  It  appertains 
to  the  soul ;  and  beside  it  the  intellect,  numbering,  measur- 
ing, and  weighing,  stands  apart  and  self-aware  like  a  booking 
clerk  at  the  entry  to  the  world's  theatre. 

What  we  create,  is  created  from  a  profound  and  un- 
conscious impulse  ;  what  we  love,  is  that  which  we  yearn 
for  with  divine  energy ;  what  we  cherish,  belongs  to  the 
unknown  world  of  the  future ;  what  we  believe,  dwells  in 
the  realm  of  the  infinite.  None  of  this  is  demonstrable, 
and  yet  nothing  is  more  certain ;  none  of  this  is  palpable, 
and  yet  every  true  step  of  our  life  is  taken  in  the  name  of 
this  inexpressible.  What  are  we  doing  from  early  morn 
till  late  at  eve  ?  We  are  living  for  that  which  we  will. 
And  what  do  we  will  ?  That  which  we  neither  know,  nor 
can  know,  but  in  which  our  faith  is  inviolable. 

This  faith,  however,  is  sustained  by  stronger  evidence 


48      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

than  by  that  of  intellectual  proof.  Every  logic-chopper 
can  refute  what  Plato,  Christ,  and  Paul  uttered  without 
adducing  proofs ;  yet  their  words  are  undying,  and  every 
word  has  begotten  a  truer  life  and  has  enkindled  more  faith 
than  any  physical,  historical,  or  social  theory.  If  we  ask 
what  is  demonstrable  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  term,  we 
find  that  even  Euclidean  geometry  will  not  stand  the  test. 
Yet  the  world  is  permeated  ever  anew  with  a  sentiment  of 
profoundest  truth.  What,  then,  is  the  characteristic  of 
living  truth  ? 

It  is  the  energy  with  which  truth  strikes  at  the  heart. 
Every  true  word  has  resounding  energy  ;  every  thought 
which  is  not  begotten  in  the  labyrinths  of  the  dialectical 
understanding,  but  in  the  warm  womb  of  sensibility, 
generates  life  and  faith.  All  proof,  therefore,  is  but  per- 
suasion, sincere  illusion.  If  a  man  believe  himself  called 
upon  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth,  not  because  he  thinks 
the  truth  but  because  he  sees  and  experiences  the  truth, 
because  the  world  which  he  feels  within  his  spirit  is  more 
real  to  him  than  the  world  which  he  sees  with  his  eyes, 
then  he  is  entitled  to  speak.  If  he  be  the  victim  of  error, 
then  with  his  dust  he  will  smooth  the  path  for  one  who 
follows  him  coming  from  the  realm  of  truth.  If  he  utter 
but  a  single  word  instinct  with  life,  this  word,  cast  into  the 
world  naked  and  unarmed,  will  become  the  seed  of  the 
heart. 

Thus  far  the  goal.  Should  anyone  endeavour,  not 
merely  to  glimpse  the  goal,  but  further  to  point  the  way 
for  those  who  walk  on  earth,  we  find  once  more  that  upon 
this  lower  level  of  practice  it  is  not  logical  demonstration 
which  enlightens  the  path  for  him  and  gives  guidance  to 
those  who  follow  him.  Never  has  a  leader  or  forerunner 
been  able  to  show  forth  the  flawless  proofs  of  his  designs. 
Had  he  done  so,  he  would  have  been  met  with  the  simple 
and  unanswerable  objection,  That  is  impracticable.  The 
only  thing  which  has  a  persistent  influence  in  the  world 
when  the  storm  of  opposition  subsides  is  the  voice  of  con- 
science. It  speaks  softly,  repeating  in  the  stilly  night 
what  the  noise  of  the  day  has  drowned.  It  speaks,  not  in 
the  name  of  an  individual,  but  in  the  name  of  the  Living. 
And  since  the  voice  of  conscience  guides  always  in  the  same 


THE        GOAL  49 

simple  path,  it  is  plain  that  what  is  disclosed  to  us  is  no 
artificial  scheme  but  a  revealed  must  and  may.  For  this 
reason,  moreover,  we  can  be  convinced  by  the  pragmatically 
designed  without  being  talked  over.  Herein  the  same 
proposal  of  the  man  of  business  and  the  battle-cry  of  the 
prophet  are  at  one,  in  that  a  coercive  need  is  felt,  re-echoing 
in  the  spirit  and  growing  by  its  own  emphasis.  Here,  like- 
wise, proof  is  superfluous.  Intuition  compels  an  emotional 
assent ;  that  which  is  seen  becomes  palpable.  In  the 
absence  of  this  childlike  energy,  we  have  nothing  more  than 
erudite  thought-play  and  aesthetic  enjoyment,  even  though 
it  be  triply  armed  with  annotations,  demonstrations,  and 
tabular  statements. 

Thus  the  heart  stands  sponsor  for  the  goal,  the  conscience 
for  the  way  ;  and  this  may  serve  to  guide  the  writer  when 
aware  of  the  weakness  of  his  words  ;  this  may  make  him 
humble  when  he  allows  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  some 
besetting  thought.  But  let  the  reader  be  on  guard  against 
any  thought  which  claims  the  force  of  demonstration  ;  let 
him  turn  earnestly  but  truthfully  towards  that  which  has 
the  characteristic  quality  of  the  inner  voice. 

3.  To  conclude.  If  our  life  be  in  the  highest  sense 
removed  from  the  control  of  external  conditions,  if  insti- 
tutions can  never  create  states  of  mind,  if  all  outward 
existence  signify  but  the  shell  and  the  mask  of  spiritual 
experience,  can  we  regard  it  as  meet  and  right  to  seek  to 
know  the  future  course  of  the  parable,  instead  of  trustingly 
following  the  way  c»f  the  spirit  in  the  certainty  that  on  that 
way  there  will  be  room  likewise  for  our  bodily  footsteps  ? 

We  are  placed  in  this  bodily  existence  as  it  were  in  a 
parable  whose  meaning  we  have  to  grasp  ;  as  it  were  in 
a  prizefight  wherein  we  have  to  strive  for  victory.  That 
which  we  gain  in  our  wrestle  with  the  spirit  becomes  the 
reality  of  life,  becomes  a  paved  foothold  as  starting  point 
for  a  fresh  ascent.  So  long  only  as  he  remains  handicrafts- 
man and  master  of  the  tool,  will  the  artist  resolve  the  experi- 
ence of  his  heart,  uncorrupted  and  unfalsified;  from  his 
inner  self.  But  the  world  is  the  material  and  the  tool  of 
the  thinker ;  and  the  thought  does  not  gain  the  full  energy 
of  its  truth  until  the  world,  judged  by  the  measure  of  that 
thought,  shows  itself  to  be  organic  and  possible.  He  who 

4 


50      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

has  at  any  time  attempted  to  anchor  in  the  soil  of  reality 
thoughts  that  have  originated  in  the  free  region  of  con- 
viction, he  who  knows  the  arduous  and  ever  unrewarded 
toil  requisite  for  these  labours  incomprehensible  to  the 
crowd,  will  perforce  have  lost  all  respect  for  symmetrically 
rounded  theorems  and  elegant  fallacies  such  as  result  from 
the  underrating  of  sensuous  experience.  The  Gospels  would 
be  mortal  did  they  but  exist  as  abstract  law  inscribed  on 
parchment.  If  their  revealer  should  return  to  earth,  it 
would  not  be.  like  a  learned  pastor,  to  speak  with  anti- 
quarian phraseology  and  in  Syrian  parables,  but  to  talk 
of  politics  and  socialism,  of  industry  and  economics,  of 
research  and  technical  advances — not  indeed  as  a  reporter 
to  whom  such  things  are  in  themselves  sublime  and  stupend- 
ous, but  as  one  directing  our  gaze  towards  the  law  of  the 
stars,  towards  the  law  to  which  our  hearts  render  obedience. 

After  these  disquisitions,  we  must  briefly  reiterate  the 
question,  How  does  the  transcendental  task  become  meta- 
morphosed into  the  pragmatic  ?  The  transcendental  task 
was,  to  promote  the  growth  of  the  soul.  What  is  the 
pragmatic  task  ? 

Assuredly  it  is  not  this,  to  increase  material  welfare. 
Self-evident  and  easily  performed  is  the  duty  of  abolishing 
all  the  more  disastrous  forms  of  poverty  and  want.  The 
cost  of  a  single  year's  military  equipment  would  suffice  to 
wipe  off  the  blood  debt  of  a  society  which  to-day  still 
endures  in  its  womb  hunger  and  all  the  resultant  crimes. 
But  this  task  is  so  simple,  so  mechanical,  and  despite  its 
lamentable  urgency  so  trivial,  that  it  belongs  rather  to 
the  domain  of  minor  civics  than  to  that  of  ethics.  It 
remains  in  the  last  resort  indifferent  what  we  do  to  such 
an  end.  The  earth  is  still  so  abundantly  fruitful  that  there 
can  be  ample  food,  clothing,  work,  and  leisure  or  the 
community,  in  accordance  with  the  extent  to  which  the 
community  wishes  in  the  right  manner  to  produce,  to  con- 
sume, and  to  enjoy  Assume  it  to  be  true  that  wealth  is 
and  will  remain  a  precondition  of  an  elevated  form  of  life  ; 
a  community  of  millions  of  productive  human  beings  is 
infinitely  wealthier  than  were  the  renowned  lesser  towns 
of  classical  days  and  of  the  middle  ages ;  a  railway  station 


THE        GOAL  51 

devours  a  hundredfold  the  work  of  the  Parthenon  ;  and 
if  the  spirit  of  a  noble  life  remains  on  the  alert,  it  will  readily 
find  materials  and  tools  for  its  embodiment. 

Just  as  little  as  wellbeing,  is  equality  the  outward 
demand  of  our  souls.  What  aberrant  sense  of  justice  could 
it  have  been  that  happened  upon  the  demand  for  equality. 
How  little  do  we  know  of  the  profoundest  intimacies  of 
our  neighbour's  life.  Words  are  conventional  messages 
concerning  incomparable  things.  You  and  I  term  "  red  " 
that  which  certain  series  of  objects  radiate  as  a  colour,  and 
yet  we  do  not  know  whether  the  red  sensation  of  one  of  us 
may  not  in  fact  correspond  to  the  green  sensation  of  the 
other.  In  one  person,  courage  may  be  no  more  than  an 
inborn  heedlessness  and  lack  of  caution  ;  in  another,  it 
may  embody  the  result  of  some  dread  decision,  of  some 
struggle  of  the  soul  between  two  dangers.  In  one, 
innocence  may  be  the  outcome  of  lack  of  temptation,  of 
habit  and  good  fortune ;  in  another,  it  may  be  a  treasure 
prematurely  lost,  and  still  longed  for  in  dreams.  For  one, 
happiness  may  be  a  divine  stream  welling  forth  from  every 
revelation  of  nature  ;  for  another,  an  artificial  edifice,  never 
completed,  consisting  of  a  thousand  wishes  which,  though 
fulfilled,  continue  in  force.  These  contrasts  have  been 
hidden  by  nature  behind  the  countenances  of  men.  To 
mitigate  them,  nature  has  opened  for  everyone  the  way 
to  an  infinitely  varied  existence,  to  an  infinite  multiplicity 
of  creation  and  suffering,  so  that  every  impulse  has  its 
counterpoise,  every  partiality  its  compensatory  setting. 
Into  the  graciousness  of  this  design  what  can  intrude  more 
unjustly  than  mechanical  justice  ?  Just  as  the  difference 
between  the  heights  of  two  objects  is  accentuated  for  the 
eye  when  their  bases  are  adjusted  to  the  same  level,  so 
the  inequality  of  beings  is  emphasised  to  the  pitch  of  cari- 
cature by  a  forcible  equalisation  of  the  conditions  of  life. 
We  agree  that  such  mechanisms  of  life  as  subserve  its 
fundamental  ordering — criminal  law  and  police  measures, 
the  rights  of  trade  and  traffic — should  strive  to  promote 
an  equality  which  shall  protect  the  good  against  the  bad. 
Any  attempt  to  go  beyond  this,  arises  from  the  thoughtless 
impulse  of  an  aberrant  sentiment  of  justice,  it  is  the  product 
not  of  responsibility  but  of  envy 


52      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

Equality  can  never  realise  the  earthly  demand  of  our 
spiritual  life.  Can  freedom  do  so  ? 

Freedom  !  Next  to  love,  it  is  the  most  divinely  sound- 
ing word  in  our  language.  Yet  woe  to  him  who  in  our 
land  trustingly  and  enthusiastically  assumes  it  uncritically 
as  his  device.  Schoolmasters  and  policemen,  equipped  with 
all  the  distinctions  of  the  philosophers  and  armed  with  all 
the  prejudices  of  the  securely  established  order,  will  hurl 
themselves  upon  the  unhappy  wight,  and  will  prove  to 
him  that  the  highest  freedom  is  to  be  found  only  in  the 
highest  unfreedom,  so  that  the  struggle  for  freedom  must 
be  stigmatised  as  no  better  than  civil  war. 

Who  can  confuse  freedom  with  licence  ?  To  one  who 
contends  that  in  the  end  my  will  must  be  coerced,  that 
the  authority  to  which  I  bow  and  the  party  to  which  I 
belong  react  upon  me  by  limiting  my  freedom,  that  the 
opponent  against  whom  I  struggle  restricts  me,  that  a 
human  equilibrium  can  only  be  established  in  virtue  of 
restrictions — such  a  disputant  is  splitting  hairs  with  half- 
truths,  and  Is  rethrashing  straw. 

A  tree  grows  in  freedom,  This  does  not  signify  that 
it  can  move  about  whithersoever  it  pleases,  or  can  grow 
up  into  the  topmost  heaven  ;  these  things  are  forbidden 
by  the  limitations  of  its  nature.  Nor  does  it  signify  that 
a  cell  belonging  to  the  trunk  can  wander  up  into  the  crest, 
that  a  leaf  can  transform  itself  into  a  flower,  that  a  branch 
can  outgrow  all  the  other  branches ;  these  things  are  for- 
bidden by  the  inner  law  of  organic  growth.  This  law  rules 
in  freedom  and  by  means  of  limitation.  It  decrees  that 
the  stem  shall  sustain  and  nourish  that  the  leaves  shall 
breathe  and  the  roots  suck,  that  the  solar  year  shall  be 
greeted  with  germination  and  blossoming,  shall  be  blessed 
with  fruit,  and  shall  close  with  a  return  to  quiescence. 

Now  a  wall  is  built  round  the  tree.  The  growth  of  roots 
and  branches  is  hindered,  the  wind  and  the  sun  are  kept 
away,  the  stunted  and  distorted  growth  takes  place  under 
a  changed  law.  However  long  growth  may  continue,  not 
now  is  it  self-determined,  not  now  is  it  the  expression  of 
an  inner  organic  necessity,  or  of  voluntarily  accepted  restrict- 
tions.  A  coercive  destiny  has  been  imposed  from  without. 
Freedom  has  given  place  to  slavery. 


THE        GOAL  53 

Our  notion  of  freedom  is  perhaps  hard  to  express  in 
words,  but  its  opposite,  coercion,  is  comparatively  easy  to 
define.  For  every  organism,  for  every  human  being,  nation 
or  state,  it  is  that  inner  or  outer  law  of  restriction  which 
is  imposed  by  something  other  than  the  intrinsic  necessity 
of  the  being  or  its  environment.  Necessity,  therefore,  is 
the  criterion  of  coercion  and  of  freedom  ;  the  advocates  of 
divinely  willed  subordinations  demand  proof  that  this 
necessity  genuinely  exists,  and  that  it  exists  in  such  a 
measure  that  the  withdrawal  of  the  restriction  will  lead 
to  the  collapse  or  atrophy  of  the  organism.  It  is  vain  pre- 
sumption to  regard  subordination  as  an  end  in  itself ;  such 
a  thought  leads  to  slavery ;  organic  necessity  alone  bears 
the  name  of  God's  will. 

If  the  cause  of  the  restriction  and  subordination  lies 
neither  in  the  vital  necessity  of  the  being  nor  in  that  of  its 
environment,  but  in  the  will  and  the  power  of  an  alien 
organism,  a  state  of  bondage  arises.  Bondage  and  slavery 
are  not  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  They  are 
ordinances  which  restrict  the  outward  life,  but  do  not  exclude 
the  development  of  the  spiritual  forces,  do  not  prevent  the 
drawing  near  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  Epictetus'  strength 
of  mind  flourished  under  slavery ;  the  spiritual  wealth  of 
medieval  Christendom  blossomed  in  the  cloister.  But  our 
problem  is  differently  stated.  We  do  not  seek  to  know 
how,  through  the  grace  of  inner  freedom,  the  individual 
may  rise  superior  to  an  irrevocable  fate ;  we  wish  to  dis- 
cover the  apt  form  of  life,  the  one  that  will  best  open  the 
way  of  the  spirit  for  humanity.  But  this  way  requires 
organic  development,  requires  self-determination  and  self- 
responsibility  ;  it  cannot  be  the  way  of  coercion,  the  way 
of  outwardly  imposed  subordination.  One  thing  do  we 
know,  that  slavery  is  the  antipodes  of  spiritual  progress. 

Our  age  is  especially  proud  of  the  abolition  of  slavery. 
There  are  no  longer  any  serfs  Only  in  arrogant  enact- 
ments is  a  man  now  spoken  of  as  a  "  subject."  He  terms 
himself  a  "  citizen "  ;  he  enjoys  countless  personal  and 
political  rights ;  tenders  obedience  to  no  individual,  but 
only  to  the  state  authority  ;  joins  societies,  chooses  repre- 
sentatives, and  administers  affairs.  He  does  not  go  into 
"  service,"  but  enters  into  "  labour  contracts  "  ;  he  is  not 


54      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

a  thrall  or  a  journeyman,  but  an  employee ;  he  has  no 
master,  but  an  employer,  who  may  neither  revile  him  nor 
punish  him.  He  can  throw  up  his  job  and  go  where  he 
pleases  ;  he  can  take  holidays  and  travel ;  he  is,  as  he  says, 
a  free  man. 

But  now  we  note  a  strange  thing !  If  he  be  not  one 
of  those  few  who  are  termed  cultured  and  well-to-do,  ere 
many  days  he  sits  in  the  workrooms  of  another  employer, 
with  the  same  daily  task  of  eight  hours,  under  the  same 
supervision,  with  the  same  wage  and  the  same  amusements, 
with  the  same  freedom  and  the  same  rights.  No  one  coerces 
him,  no  one  blocks  his  way,  and  yet  his  prematurely  aging 
life  runs  its  course  without  leisure  and  without  mental 
balance.  The  mechanical  world  confronts  him  as  a  com- 
plicated enigma,  upon  which  the  partisan  newspaper  he 
reads  throws  a  one-sided  light ;  the  higher  world  is  pre- 
sented to  him  in  the  form  ol  an  extract  from  a  second-rate 
sermon  or  a  popular  sketch  ;  of  his  fellow  human  beings, 
those  who  belong  to  alien  circles  have  the  aspect  of  enemies, 
and  those  who  belong  to  his  own  circle  are  taciturn  com- 
rades ;  his  employer  is  an  "  exploiter/'  and  his  workshop 
is  a  "  bone-grinding  mill." 

Civil  rights  exist,  and,  above  all  the  suffrage  in  its  two 
forms.  But  once  more  we  encounter  a  strange  phenomenon  ! 
In  his  relations  with  authority  the  man  is  always  an  object 
The  others  have  a  subjective  existence,  whether  as  his 
military  superiors  they  call  him  "  thou  "  instead  of  "  you," 
as  judges  sentence  him,  as  policemen  and  officials  bully 
him,  question  him,  order  him  about.  He  and  his  fellows 
may  combine  and  organize,  may  hold  meetings  and  demon- 
strate, but  he  remains  always  the  ruled  and  the  obedient ; 
on  the  golden  thrones  sit  men  who  resemble  him  in  form, 
but  who  live  in  wide  streets  planted  with  trees,  drive  in 
carriages,  and  greet  one  another  ceremoniously.  For  these 
others,  responsibility,  dignity  and  power.  Yet  civic  life 
is  free  to  all ;  competition  reigns  ;  the  strong  and  the  pru- 
dent may  venture  and  win  ;  the  only  restrictions  are  those 
of  a  handful  of  laws  and  rules ;  the  arena  is  open  to  every- 
one. But,  once  more,  he  has  not  the  entry.  The  circle 
is  secretly  closed  ;  its  sign-manual  is  money.  To  him  who 
hath,  is  given  ;  what  any  one  possesses,  is  subject  to  in- 


THE        GOAL  55 

crease,  but  first  of  all  he  must  possess.  He  possesses  what 
belonged  to  his  ancestors,  what  they  bequeathed  to  him  in 
the  form  of  education  and  capital.  In  lands  that  are  both 
wealthy  and  unenclosed,  it  may  be  possible  for  saved  pennies 
to  grow  to  pounds  ;  but  the  older  and  less  productive  the 
country,  the  higher  the  price  of  admission  into  the  money- 
making  class. 

Thus  wherever  he  may  turn,  the  disinherited  encounters 
walls  of  glass,  transparent  but  unclimbable,  walls  beyond 
which  there  lies  freedom,  self-determination,  wellbeing,  and 
power.  The  keys  of  the  gates  that  open  into  this  forbidden 
land  are  culture  and  property,  and  both  are  heritable  goods. 

Thus  vanishes  the  last  hope  of  the  outcast,  the  hope 
that  his  children  may  succeed  where  he  has  failed.  He 
quits  the  world  with  the  knowledge  that  his  work  has  been 
of  service  not  to  himself  and  his  offspring,  but  to  others 
and  their  offspring,  knowing  that  the  destiny  of  the  coming 
generations  is  likewise  predetermined  and  inexorable. 

What  does  this  signify  ?  It  does  not  signify  the  old 
slavery,  which  was  personal  in  character,  and  which,  inas 
much  as  it  united  (unnaturally,  it  is  true,  but  beneath  a 
single  roof)  the  destinies  of  two  individuals  or  of  two  families, 
maintained  an  ultimate  human  fellowship  and  participation. 
The  modern  relationship  which  is  the  counterpart  of  the 
old  involves,  under  the  semblance  of  freedom  and  self- 
determination,  an  anonymous  subjugation,  not  of  man  by 
man,  but  of  nation  by  nation,  where,  although  a  man  may 
change  employer,  the  law  of  one-sided  domination  remains 
inviolable.  This  hereditary  servitude  exists  in  all  civilised 
countries ;  it  is  found  to  prevail  among  persons  who  have 
everywhere  like  antecedents,  a  like  speech,  a  like  faith,  and 
like  customs ;  they  comprise  what  is  known  as  the  proletariat. 

It  is  incompatible  with  the  demand  for  spiritual  freedom 
and  spiritual  progress,  that,  when  all  are  equipped  by  God 
with  a  similar  bodily  form  and  with  similar  talents,  one 
half  of  mankind  should  keep  the  other  half  in  perpetual 
subjection.  It  avails  nothing  to  say  that  the  two  halves 
live  and  work,  not  for  themselves  but  for  the  community; 
for  the  upper  half  enjoys  free  self-determination  and  works 
for  its  own  ends,  whereas  the  lower  half,  with  no  outlook 
upon  a  visible  goal,  is  in  compulsory  servitude  to  the 


56      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

upper  half,  whose  ends  the  lower  half  fulfils.  Never  do  we 
see  anyone  belonging  to  the  upper  stratum  voluntarily 
descending  to  the  lower.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ascent  of 
members  of  the  lower  stratum  is  so  effectively  prevented 
by  the  withholding  of  culture  and  property,  that  very  few 
belonging  to  the  circle  of  freemen  are  acquainted  with  any- 
one in  that  circle  who  at  one  time  belonged,  or  whose  father 
belonged,  to  the  lowest  strata.  Sloth  and  the  desire  for 
personal  advantage  are  strong  forces  when  they  impel 
in  the  direction  of  compounding  with  that  which  exists. 
The  abolition  of  slavery  in  America  and  the  abolition  of 
serfdom  in  Russia,  secured  passionate  advocacy,  above  all 
on  the  part  of  those  who  were  not  injuriously  affected  by 
the  change.  The  actual  owners  of  domestic  animals  in 
human  form  defended  the  peculiar  institution  on  grounds 
identical  with  those  which  are  adduced  to-day  by  divines, 
statesmen,  and  capitalists,  on  behalf  of  the  necessity  of 
unfreedom.  These  grounds  are,  that  subordination  is  estab- 
lished by  God's  will,  that  all  service  is  precious,  that  humility 
is  a  virtue  beyond  price.  As  regards  proletarians,  just  as 
much  as  regards  slaves  and  serfs,  the  arguments  are  always 
valid  for  some  other  person  than  the  one  by  whom  they 
are  voiced. 

If  we  enquire  how  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  privileged 
and  the  property  owners  express  such  hardhearted  views 
in  all  good  faith,  if  we  ask  why  the  existing  system  seems 
to  them  beyond  reproach,  firm  in  its  foundations,  and  abso- 
lutely inalterable,  if  we  enquire  why  they  think  that  the 
only  alternative  is  chaos,  we  find  that  the  main  respon- 
sibility for  this  irrational  one-sidedness  and  involuntary 
harshness  attaches  to  the  plan  of  campaign  of  the  socialist 
movement. 

This  movement  is  stamped  with  the  curse  handed  down 
to  it  by  its  father,  who  was  not  a  prophet  but  a  man  of 
learning,  one  who  placed  his  trust,  not  in  the  human  heart, 
whence  all  genuine  world  happenings  well  up,  but  in  science. 
This  puissant  and  unhappy  man  erred  so  gravely  that  he 
ascribed  to  science  the  power  of  determining  values  and 
establishing  goals.  He  despised  the  forces  of  transcendental 
philosophy,  of  inspiration,  and  of  eternal  justice. 

For  this  reason,  socialism  has  never  acquired  any  con- 


THE        GOAL  57 

structive  force.  Even  when,  through  the  unconscious  and 
undesired  influence  of  socialism  on  its  opponents,  such  a 
constructive  force  has  been  kindled,  the  socialists  have 
misunderstood  the  designs  of  the  opponents  and  have 
rejected  them.  Never  has  socialism  been  able  to  point 
the  way  towards  a  luminous  goal ;  its  most  passionate 
utterances  have  been  complaints  and  accusations ;  its 
activities  have  been  agitatory  and  trivial.  Instead  of 
formulating  a  comprehensive  philosophy,  it  has  concerned 
itself  about  the  problem  of  material  goods ;  and  even  this 
pitiful  mine  and  thine  of  the  riddle  of  capital  was  to  be 
solved  by  business  measures  in  the  domain  of  economics 
and  politics.  Although  here  and  there  some  dissatisfied 
thinker  may  have  sought  a  path,  may  have  indicated  a 
path,  into  the  realm  of  ethics,  the  realm  of  the  purely  human, 
the  realm  of  the  absolute,  such  men  of  might  have  never 
been  honoured  as  the  solar  centres  of  the  movement,  but 
have  invariably  been  accorded  a  scant  aesthetic  toleration 
as  dull  and  lesser  lights.  In  the  centre  of  the  stage,  atheistic 
materialism  was  enthroned ;  its  strength  lay  not  in  love, 
but  in  discipline ;  its  revelation  was  not  the  ideal,  but 
utility. 

Out  of  negation  there  can  arise  a  party,  not  a  world 
movement.  The  prophetic  sense  and  the  prophetic  word 
will  herald  the  world  movement ;  mere  programme  building 
can  never  do  so.  The  prophetic  word  is  a  single  and  ideal 
word.  No  matter  whether  it  be  named  God,  faith,  father- 
land, freedom,  humanity,  or  soul,  to  the  prophet,  possessions 
and  their  distribution  are  but  shadowy  incidentals ;  to  the 
prophet,  even  life  and  death,  human  happiness,  poverty 
and  need,  sickness  and  war,  can  never  be  ultimate  aims 
and  dangers. 

Socialism  has  never  enkindled  the  heart  of  man,  nor 
has  any  great  and  fortunate  deed  ever  been  performed  in 
its  name.  It  has  awakened  interest  and  aroused  fear ; 
but  interests  and  fears  rule  for  a  day,  not  for  an  epoch. 
In  the  fanaticism  of  a  gloomy  absorption  in  science,  in  the 
dread  fanaticism  of  the  intellect,  the  socialists  have  closed 
their  ranks  to  form  a  party,  inspired  by  the  incredible  error 
of  the  belief  that  a  one-sided  and  disconnected  force  can 
exercise  enduring  influence.  The  steam-hammer  does  not 


58       IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

destroy  the  lump  of  iron,  but  consolidates  it.  He  who 
wishes  to  transform  the  world,  must  not  press  upon  it  from 
without,  but  must  grasp  it  from  within.  The  world  will 
open  to  the  word  which  vibrates,  however  faintly,  in  every 
heart ;  which  helps  to  change  every  heart.  The  blind 
knocking  of  a  party  of  interested  persons  engenders  deafness 
and  closes  the  ears. 

Taking  it  all  in  all,  considering  in  broad  outline  the 
purely  political  activity  of  the  socialist  movement  during 
three  generations,  we  perceive  that,  apart  from  organisatory 
influences  in  the  business  sphere,  the  upshot  of  socialist 
activities  has  been  to  cause  an  enormous  increase  in  the 
spirit  of  reaction,  to  disintegrate  liberal  thought,  and  to 
depreciate  the  sentiment  of  freedom.  Inasmuch  as  socialism 
reduced  the  problem  of  popular  enfranchisement  to  a  ques- 
tion of  money  and  material  goods,  inasmuch  as  it  was  under 
this  ensign  that  socialism  won  over  the  masses,  socialism 
as  an  ideal  proved  frustrate.  The  impulse  towards  inde- 
pendence degenerated  into  greed.  A  number  of  the  more 
cultured  supporters  withdrew  from  the  ranks ;  the  bour- 
geoisie was  terror-stricken ;  the  forces  of  reaction  were 
redoubled ;  the  reactionaries  were  enabled  to  laugh  at  the 
poor  devils  of  the  multitude,  at  those  who  did  good  while 
wishing  to  do  evil,  at  those  who  strengthened  the  throne 
and  the  altar  while  extolling  the  communist  commonwealth. 
Regarded  from  within,  socialism  has  been  a  union  of  inter- 
ested persons  ;  contemplated  from  without,  it  is  a  hierarchy 
of  officials.  What  was  to  have  been  a  world  movement, 
degenerated  into  a  political  party,  succumbed  to  the  illusion 
of  numbers,  became  infected  with  a  popular  formula  of 
unity.  In  contrast  with  every  genuine  epoch-making  force, 
socialism  continually  lost  effective  strength  in  proportion 
as  ostensibly  it  grew  strongei.  In  its  reaction  against 
millenniary  utilitarian  schemes,  against  bureaucratic  and 
monetary  ideals,  against  shallow  and  specious  formulas, 
against  threats  and  invectives,  Europe  has  fallen  into  sloth. 
We  must  cast  off  this  lethargy.  As  soon  as  we  realise  its 
unworthiness,  as  soon  as  we  are  spurred  to  actual  endeavour, 
we  shall  fearlessly  march  for  a  space  along  the  road  leading 
towards  socialism,  while  rejecting  its  ultimate  goals.  If 
in  the  inner  world  we  desire  the  growth  of  the  soul,  in  the 


THE        GOAL  59 

visible  world  we  desire  deliverance  from  hereditary  servitude. 
If  we  wish  to  free  those  who  now  are  slaves,  this  does  not 
signify  that  we  look  upon  any  particular  way  of  distributing 
material  goods  as  in  itself  important ;  that  we  regard  any 
gradation  of  the  privilege  to  enjoy  as  in  itself  desirable  ; 
that  we  look  upon  any  utilitarian  formula  as  decisive. 
Consequently,  it  is  not  our  aim  to  level  the  inequalities  of 
human  destiny  and  human  pretension  ;  it  is  not  our  aim 
to  make  all  men  independent  or  well-to-do,  to  give  all  men 
equal  rights  or  equal  happiness.  Our  ideal  is  the  replace- 
ment of  a  blind  and  inexorable  system  of  institutions  by 
self-determination  and  self-responsibility.  We  do  not  wish 
to  force  freedom  on  men,  but  to  open  for  them  the  way  to 
freedom.  It  is  of  no  moment  whether  the  requisite  human 
or  moral  sacrifices  be  great  or  small,  seeing  that  our  aspira- 
tion is  not  towards  utility  or  profit,  but  towards  divine 
law.  If,  through  the  working  of  this  law,  the  sum  of  out- 
ward happiness  on  earth  were  to  be  diminished,  no  matter. 
If  the  progress  of  apparent  civilisation  and  culture  were  to 
be  retarded,  this,  too,  would  be  a  minor  drawback.  We 
shall  dispassionately  consider  whether  these  disadvantages 
are  likely  to  ensue.  If  it  prove  otherwise,  this  will  not 
serve  to  encourage  us  in  our  design.  For  we  need  neither 
goad  nor  lure.  As  far  as  the  visible  world  is  concerned, 
a  longing  for  a  worthy  and  just  existence,  and  the  love  of 
mankind,  are  sufficient  motives ;  and  in  the  world  that  lies 
beyond  vision,  the  law  of  the  soul  is  the  impelling  force. 

If  from  now  onwards  for  a  time  this  book  be  con- 
cerned with  the  things  of  the  day,  and  yet  fail  to 
exhibit  the  experimental,  demonstrative,  and  convincing 
methods  to  which  matter-of-fact  persons  are  accustomed 
and  which  they  term  practical,  this  may  be  explained  by 
the  following  distinction.  We  have  a  thousand  books 
which  irrefutably  establish  the  last  tenth  of  some  widely 
extended  conviction — until  the  next  conviction  comes,  to 
destroy  the  old.  There  are  plenty  of  books,  likewise,  which 
can  deduce  the  most  useful  conclusions  from  given  pre- 
mises. In  both  cases,  unfortunately,  despite  all  the 
mathematical  certitude  of  the  methods,  there  is  lacking 
certitude  of  aim  ;  for  recognition  of  the  goal  can  never  be 


60      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

mathematical,  but  is  always  intuitive.  Here  we  make  no 
claim  for  certitude,  but  thoughtfully  expound  sentiments 
and  values,  inasmuch  as  this  book  is  not  one  of  practical 
demonstration,  but  one  which  aims  at  revealing  a  goal. 
If  to  the  smallest  extent  the  goal  thus  revealed  corresponds 
to  the  sensibilities  of  the  objective  spirit,  the  tracery  of 
realities  will  without  our  aid  shape  itself  upon  the  arches 
of  thought. 

The  goal  towards  which  we  strive  is  the  goal  of  human 
freedom. 


Ill 

THE    WAY 


THE  WAY  OF  ECONOMICS 

THE  historical  outlook  has  served  our  thought  for  a  century. 
It  is  now  degenerating,  and  is  becoming  harmful,  especially 
when  it  is  applied  to  institutions. 

Natural  creations  undergo  change,  while  maintaining 
their  meaning  and  purpose,  or  while  these  alter  very  slowly. 
Institutions  remain  unchanged  in  name  and  important 
attributes,  while  changing  their  content  and  even  their 
very  reason  for  existence ;  a  new  dweller  takes  up  his 
residence  in  the  old  house.  For  short,  we  may  speak  of 
this  phenomenon  as  "  the  Substitution  of  the  Content." 

It  arises  from  the  circumstance  that  the  number  of 
institutional  forms  is  restricted  ;  from  the  fact  that  inertia 
and  parsimony  of  spirit  make  us  glad  to  employ  established 
formulas  ;  and  likewise  because,  owing  to  the  constancy  of 
secular  progress,  it  is  difficult  to  recognise  the  moment  when 
the  choice  of  a  new  concept  and  name  is  desirable,  when 
we  should  clear  dead  organisms  out  of  the  way,  and  when 
it  would  be  well  for  us  to  introduce  new  outlooks. 

The  historical  outlook  is  invariably  attractive  and 
stimulating ;  it  can  clarify  many  a  name  and  can  explain 
many  a  fact ;  it  can  establish  varieties  ;  it  can  throw  light 
upon  functional  movements  and  transformations.  But  it 
leads  to  dangerous  error  when  it  undertakes  to  interpret  or 
to  develop  the  extant,  living,  and  working  organism.  We 
may  learn  as  an  interesting  item  of  historical  lore  that  the 
pontificate  originated  out  of  bridge  building  ;  but  it  would 
be  a  serious  fallacy  to  deduce  from  the  science  of  engineering, 
principles  applicable  to  ecclesiastical  institutions.  It  is 
instructive  to  trace  an  evolutionary  series  from  the  Athenian 
Dionysiacs  to  the  light  comedies  of  modern  France  ;  but  we 

63 


64      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

should  hardly  recommend  any  theatrical  manager  to  be 
guided  by  archaeological  considerations  in  judging  any  play 
submitted  to  him  for  examination.  We  make  fun  of  the 
view  which  found  expression  in  the  days  of  the  French 
enlightenment,  that  the  state  came  into  existence  as  the 
outcome  of  a  social  contract,  and  we  now  trace  the  origin 
of  the  state  to  prehistoric  sources.  Nevertheless,  in  an 
organism  whose  existence  is  dependent  upon  an  equilibrium 
of  forces,  we  find  something  more  closely  akin  to  a  mutual 
and  contractual  relationship  than  to  any  totemistic  or 
patriarchal  function ;  in  especial,  the  modificatory  move- 
ments in  the  structure  of  the  state  assume  forms  very 
similar  to  those  assumed  by  the  modifications  in  contractual 
relationships.  Nowhere  has  the  Substitution  of  the  Content 
been  more  conspicuously  at  work  than  in  the  nature  of 
the  state.  Hence  the  sterility  of  the  attempt  to  discover 
a  historically  comprehensive  definition  of  this  organism. 
For  the  state,  despite  its  apparent  constancy,  is  refashioned 
in  every  generation,  though  its  name  remains  unchanged. 
Only  under  the  metaphysical  form,  as  the  embodied  will 
of  the  collective  spirit,  can  it  be  regarded  as  a  continuous 
entity — a  view  which  has  no  relation  to  temporal  happenings, 
and  is  without  practical  bearing. 

From  a  false  application  of  the  historical  outlook,  there 
results  a  false  estimate  of  that  which  is  historically  recorded, 
which  is  regarded  as  being  endowed  with  absolute  value, 
so  that  tradition  is  conceived  to  possess  a  positive  force. 
The  value  of  a  historic  fact  lies  in  this,  that  it  is  a  historically 
transient  and  perishable  thing.  It  came  into  existence  as 
a  revolutionary  innovation ;  it  passes  away  when  it  is 
obsolete  and  outworn ;  between  whiles,  it  maintains  itself 
for  just  so  long  as  it  is  useful  and  tolerable.  The  value 
of  tradition  lies  in  the  slackening  of  the  movement,  which 
thereby  gains  constancy ;  the  less  emphatic  name  of 
"  inertia  "  illumines  this  power,  which  is  purely  negative, 
and  which,  despite  its  great  practical  significance,  can  never 
possess  the  value  of  scientific  refutation.  It  possessed  that 
value  in  former  days  in  relation  to  religious  and  philosophical 
conviction ;  it  still  claims  that  value  to-day  in  relation 
to  social  and  political  science.  Though  it  is  necessary  to 
repudiate  this  theoretical  value,  none  the  less  we  must 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS       65 

recognise  that,  besides  its  practical  value,  tradition  has 
also  an  aesthetic  value.  This  latter  secures  expression  in 
formulas,  vestments,  ceremonies,  and  festivals,  which  endow 
the  commonplace  with  colour,  pride,  and  port,  enabling 
the  present  to  luxuriate  with  a  well-justified  complacency 
in  memories  of  an  honourable  past.  But  the  aesthetic  side 
of  tradition  must  remain,  as  it  always  remains  for  vigorous 
nations,  acknowledged  play-acting ;  it  must  never  become 
an  essential  part  of  life.  For  festal  purposes,  it  is  charming 
that  the  King  of  Prussia  should  occasionally  present  himself 
before  the  public  as  the  elector  of  Brandenburg ;  but  it 
would  be  undesirable,  on  this  account,  to  claim  for  the 
modern  province  of  Brandenburg  a  political  preference  over 
Silesia  or  Rhineland. 

These  preliminary  remarks  were  necessary  to  explain 
the  author's  working  method  and  to  throw  light  upon  the 
Substitution  of  the  Content. 


The  old  stratification  of  feudalism  was  justified  in 
practice  by  readiness  for  war,  by  human  superiority,  by 
the  organisation  and  the  residential  ownership  of  the 
territorial  conquerors.  Teleologically,  it  was  justified  by 
administrative,  defensive,  and  protective  considerations, 
based  upon  hereditary  qualities.  This  hereditary  trans- 
missibility  was  exercised  through  training  in  the  use  of 
arms  and  in  the  fighting  spirit,  through  the  selective  breeding 
of  appropriate  bodily  and  mental  characteristics,  through 
religious  consecration,  and  by  the  enforcement  of  discipline 
and  good  behaviour  upon  the  subject  classes. 

Progressive  colonisation  and  the  increasing  intensity 
of  economic  life  prevented  the  upper  stratum  from  extending 
concomitantly  with  the  lower  stratum.  It  proved  out  of 
the  question  to  provide  an  adequate  equipment  for  younger 
sons,  so  that  some  of  these  entered  the  church,  while  others 
emigrated ;  some  estates  were  broken  up,  and  others 
coalesced ;  ecclesiastical  and  territorial  principalities  came 
into  existence  ;  in  the  towns  a  middle  class  sprang  to  life  ; 
and  it  became  impracticable  for  the  rigid  and  inexpansible 
upper  stratum  to  cover  the  enlarging  lower  stratum.  When 
it  became  necessary  to  extend  military  training  to  the 

5 


66       IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

lower  stratum  the  last  justification  for  the  feudalist  ordering 
of  society  vanished. 

A  new  hereditary  stratification  had  already  occurred  in 
the  body  politic,  the  stratification  of  ownership. 

Springing  out  of  territorial  suzerainty  and  ecclesiastical 
ownership,  out  of  colonies,  monopolies,  mining  rights,  and 
profiteering  businesses,  masses  of  capital  had  come  into 
existence.  The  mechanisation  of  industry,  manufacture, 
trade,  thought,  and  research,  had  seized  upon  life.  The 
whole  movement  of  the  world  was  guided  by  the  impulse 
towards  the  revenues  upon  capital.  The  hereditability  of 
the  power  of  capital  had  issued  out  of  the  hereditability  of 
caste  and  of  real  and  personal  property.  Since  no  one 
doubted  its  justification,  no  'theoretical  justification  was 
provided. 

A  certain  inward  justification  might,  in  case  of  need, 
have  been  furnished  at  the  outset,  for  capital  made  its 
appearance  chiefly  as  the  outcome  of  enterprise.  But 
individual  enterprises  outlive  the  generations,  and  therefore 
require  an  unbroken  series  of  ready-made  leaders  and 
masters,  such  as  were  furnished  by  hereditary  succession, 
and  such  as  custom  already  provided  for  the  control  of 
agriculture.  Above  all,  there  was  as  yet  no  system  of 
popular  education.  The  homes  of  the  well-to-do  provided 
an  education  which  was  superior  alike  in  point  of  theory 
and  practice  to  the  education  open  to  the  commonalty.  This 
furnished  additional  protection  for  the  concentration  of  means 
which  were  unable  to  work  effectively  until  concentrated. 

Three  circumstances  could  not  fail  to  threaten  the 
hereditary  stratification  of  capitalism :  the  elementary 
school,  by  destroying  the  educational  advantages  possessed 
by  the  owners  of  capital ;  the  institution  of  the  joint-stock 
method  of  financing  enterprise,  whereby  business  was  deprived 
of  its  individual  characteristics,  so  that  it  was  no  longer 
necessary  to  have  a  hereditary  system  for  the  provision 
of  managers ;  and  the  politico-militarist  emancipation 
which  brought  about  a  wide  diffusion  of  administrative 
experience,  and  taught  people  to  contemplate  wider  horizons. 
If  these  circumstances  were  void  of  effect,  this  arose 
from  the  rapid  and  enormous  increase  in  the  power  of  capital. 
The  capitalists,  by  joining  forces  with  such  territorial  and 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      67 

feudalist  powers  as  still  remained  in  existence,  by  the 
ramification  of  relationships  and  interest,  by  education  and 
mode  of  life,  by  journalistic  influence  and  political  indis- 
pensability,  combined  to  form  a  class.  Having  done  this, 
they  defended  their  privileges,  in  the  belief  that  the  assault 
on  these  was  impelled,  not  by  reason,  but  by  rival  interests. 

Thus  the  new  stratification  did  not  destroy,  but  rather 
strengthened,  the  vestiges  of  the  old  stratification.  The 
owning  class,  since  it  did  not  intrude  from  without  but 
rose  up  from  beneath,  could  not  create  any  forms  of  life 
peculiar  to  itself.  Being  therefore  compelled  to  borrow 
these  forms  from  its  predecessors,  it  became  indebted,  and 
had  to  accept  an  inferior  status.  In  the  second  place  the 
members  of  the  ruling  houses  remained  partial  to  the  feudal 
stratum — for  old  acquaintance'  sake,  because  the  feudal 
magnates  had  experience  in  the  arts  of  government  and 
war,  because  they  were  settled  on  the  soil  and  remained 
inalterable  ;  and  since  the  members  of  the  feudal  nobility 
were  in  part  dependent  upon  the  crown  for  the  material 
conditions  of  existence,  they  seemed  to  the  crown  more 
trustworthy  in  relation  to  direct  monarchical  claims.  In 
the  third  place,  those  who  belonged  to  the  two  dominant 
strata  had  no  objection  to  a  system  of  mutual  dependence ; 
the  territorial  nobleman  who  was  likewise  wealthy  possessed 
a  double  advantage,  and  deliberately  used  this  in  favour 
rather  of  caste  than  of  class. 

European  society,  in  its  play  of  changing  colours,  thus 
exhibits  a  strange  phenomenon,  as  it  were  of  double 
refraction.  The  stratum  which  is  still  predominantly  feudal 
has  been  permeated  by  the  extrinsic  capitalist  stratum. 
Both  remain  hereditary,  and  they  agree  in  that  both  create 
a  passive  counterpart,  which  on  the  capitalist  side  has 
become  an  unescapable  human  destiny. 

We  have  already  recognised  that  this  destiny,  in  its 
rigid  predetermination,  is  incompatible  with  the  advancement 
of  the  spiritual  life.  It  now  becomes  clear  that  no  future 
order,  however  gradated,  stratified,  and  differentiated,  can 
possibly  possess  the  quality  of  hereditary  fixity. 

Whatever  its  guiding  fundamental  law  may  be,  it  cannot 
rest  upon  coercion  and  force  ;  it  will  entail  the  reconciliation 
of  the  common  will  with  the  individual  will  effecting  this 


68      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

reconciliation  upon  a  moral  basis ;  it  will  allow  ample 
room  for  self-determination,  responsibility,  and  spiritual 
expansion. 

Thus  the  demand  for  rebirth  no  longer  presents  itself 
solely  under  the  aspect  of  the  liberation  of  a  class,  but 
quite  plainly  as  a  moralisation  of  social  and  economic 
ordinances  under  the  law  of  personal  responsibility. 

We  find  the  way  of  development  to  the  extent  to  which 
we  allow  ourselves  to  be  guided  by  the  repudiation  of 
injustice.  Mutual  hostility  between  the  classes  arising  out 
of  the  over-intensification  of  economic  contrasts,  the  power 
of  a  chance  success  or  of  an  immoral  success,  the  monopo- 
lisation of  culture — these  are  the  things  which  create  the 
forces  of  oppression.  Hereditary  transmission  perpetuates 
them.  Our  way  is  the  right  one  if  it  lead  to  the  annihilation 
of  the  hostile  forces,  while  at  the  same  time  maintaining 
human  order,  promoting  true  civilisation,  and  enlarging 
spiritual  freedom. 

The  crudest  form  of  the  curative  impulse  is  the  demand 
for  immediate  relief.  The  tree  makes  a  direct  demand  for 
light,  space,  air,  water,  and  earth  ;  it  takes  what  it  needs, 
the  neighbouring  tree  may  perish,  the  soil  may  go  sour; 
the  forest  carries  on  a  struggle  against  moor  and  heath 
as  long  as  it  can ;  then  the  forest  dies,  and  with  it  even 
the  most  successful  tree  perishes. 

Forester  and  educationist,  physician  and  statesman,  have 
long  since  abandoned  the  snatching  at  immediate  relief. 
The  physician  does  not  attempt  to  treat  chilled  limbs  with 
warm  wrappings ;  the  statesman  does  not  try  to  still  the 
drunkard's  craving  by  the  building  of  additional  breweries. 
The  curative  artist  surveys  the  whole  life-field  of  the 
organism  to  be  protected ;  he  attacks  the  disease,  not  the 
symptom ;  he  estimates  the  totality  of  the  vital  forces, 
and  in  accordance  with  a  deliberate  design  he  arranges  for 
the  distribution  of  these  forces  among  the  various  organs, 
favouring  here  and  inhibiting  there,  strengthening  one  and 
weakening  another. 

Socialism,  the  doctrine  which  delights  to  claim  the 
epithet  "  scientific,"  and  which  nevertheless  in  its  quest 
for  popularity  is  continually  forced  to  repudiate  the 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      69 

scientific   method,    has   never   got   beyond   the   search   for 
immediate  relief. 

Thus  runs  the  popular  argument : 

What  is  the  goal  ? — Higher  wages. — What  lowers  wages  ? 
— The  interest  on  capital. — How  can  wages  be  increased  ? — 
By  suppressing  interest. — How  can  interest  be  suppressed  ? 

It  would  be  logical  to  reply,  By  dividing  up  capital. 
A  more  scientific  answer,  however  is  to  say,  By  nationalising 
capital. 

Both  answers  are  equally  fallacious.  Both  misunderstand 
the  law  of  capital  in  its  contemporary  and  decisive  function. 
That  function  is  to  direct  the  stream  of  labour  to  the  place 
where  the  need  is  most  urgent. 

We  may  recall  here  the  law  of  the  Substitution  of  the 
Content.  The  fundamental  question  is  not,  out  of  what 
causes  and  needs  an  organism  has  been  created  in  the  past ; 
the  fundamental  question  is,  what  needs  the  organism 
actually  subserves  at  the  present  day. 

Let  us  assume  that  the  social  revolution  has  been 
completed.  The  world  president  for  the  current  year  is 
enthroned  in  Chicago,  governing  from  that  centre  the 
various  republics  of  the  world,  and  supervising  through 
his  executive  instruments  all  international  affairs.  He 
wields  the  ultimate  authority  over  the  capital  of  the  earth. 

Among  700,000  proposals  submitted  to  the  Department 
for  New  Enterprises,  three  stand  out  as  worthy  of  serious 
consideration.  The  first  is  for  a  railway  through  Tibet ; 
the  second  is  for  the  exploitation  of  petroleum  wells  in 
Tierra  del  Fuego  ;  the  third  is  an  irrigation  scheme  for 
East  Africa.  Politically  and  technically,  all  are  free  from 
objection  ;  economically,  all  seem  equally  desirable  ;  but, 
in  view  of  the  available  means,  one  only  can  be  carried  out. 
Which  is  the  president  to  choose  ? 

In  accordance  with  customs  deriving  from  the  capital- 
istic epoch,  three  carefully  drafted  estimates  of  prospective 
profits  have  been  sent  in.  Tibet  would  "  pay  "  5  per  cent.  ; 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  7  per  cent. ;  East  Africa,  14  per  cent. 
The  habits  of  the  capitalistic  era  prevail  to  this  extent, 
that,  with  the  president's  approval,  the  department  decides 
in  favour  of  the  East  African  irrigation  scheme. 

It  would  seem,  the  estimates  of  probable  profits  might 


70       IN        DAYS        TO         COME 

now  be  torn  up,  that  labour  and  materials  to  the  requisite 
amount  might  be  sent  to  East  Africa,  and  that  the 
possibility  of  miscalculation  might  be  ignored.  The  estimates 
of  possible  profits  would  have  been  mere  arithmetical 
problems,  worked  out  solely  to  ascertain  the  varying  degrees 
of  need,  and  negligible  from  a  practical  point  of  view. 
Unfortunately,  however,  six  states  raise  objections. 

They  complain  that  all  the  advantage  of  the  new  under- 
taking accrues  to  the  inhabitants  of  East  Africa,  who  alone 
will  profit  by  the  increased  immigration,  by  the  improvement 
of  the  conditions  of  life,  climate,  etc.  Portugal  has  long 
been  waiting  for  one  thing,  Japan  for  another,  and  now  the 
world's  treasury,  which  all  help  to  fill,  is  to  be  depleted 
for  the  sake  of  one  country  alone.  The  president  cannot 
reply,  "  In  future  each  territorial  area  must  look  after 
itself,"  seeing  that  for  half  a  century  important  enterprises 
have  remained  unfulfilled  through  insufficiency  of  the 
communalised  means.  The  only  resource  open  to  him  is 
to  declare,  "  The  plan  will  be  carried  out,  but  the  East 
African  Department  of  Economy  must  return  a  revenue 
of  so  much  to  the  world  treasury."  The  resurrection  of 
interest  has  taken  place. 

In  a  German  manufacturing  town  an  old  state  factory 
has  to  be  demolished.  It  is  obsolete  and  worthless.  A 
clever  captain  of  industry  offers  at  a  minimal  expense  to 
re-equip  the  factory  for  some  new  object.  He  is  unable  to 
produce  proof  that  the  new  undertaking  will  be  profitable, 
but  is  prepared  to  shoulder  the  risk.  The  provincial 
prefecture  rejects  the  experiment.  The  district  authority 
does  not  relinquish  the  design  ;  furthermore,  the  man  who 
proposed  it  offers  a  hundred  silver  watches  and  five  pianos 
(borrowed  from  his  friends)  as  security.  It  appears  that 
innumerable  district  authorities  have  done  similar  things, 
and  the  entrepreneur  is  instructed  to  go  ahead.  The  factory 
is  leased  to  him.  Here  we  have  another  resurrection  of 
interest. 

Never,  except  on  the  purely  ideal  plane,  can  the  proper 
use  of  capital  be  secured  in  any  other  way  than  by 
ascertaining  that  the  return  shall  be  sufficient.  Never  can 
the  risks  of  such  estimates  be  met,  never  can  the  one-sided 
expenditure  of  capital  be  covered,  in  any  other  way  than 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      71 

by  the  actual  return  of  interest  on  the  capital — not  by  its 
return  merely  on  paper. 

If  all  the  capital  in  the  world  were  nationalised  to-day, 
it  would  to-morrow  be  made  over  to  innumerable  borrowers, 
and  would  the  day  after  to-morrow  be  distributed  among 
innumerable  owners.  The  necessity  of  interest  derives 
from  the  necessity  of  choice  among  rival  projects.  It  is 
the  expression  of  superlative  urgency  and  lucrativeness 
among  the  schemes  for  satisfying  needs. 

But  the  indispensability  of  interest  is  likewise  disclosed 
by  a  more  independent  and  more  comprehensive  consideration 
of  the  matter. 

If  we  survey  the  whole  field  of  some  national  industrial 
system,  the  German  for  instance,  in  respect  of  the  distribution 
of  capital,  a  remarkable  fact  is  disclosed.  Flourishing  and 
profitable  as  German  industry  is,  in  its  mighty  aggregate 
this  industry  pays  nothing  out,  but  draws  means  in  ;  the 
increase  in  capital  and  the  increase  in  indebtedness  exceed 
the  amount  paid  in  interest.  Manufacturing  industry  is  at 
work  only  for  the  increase  of  its  own  organism  ;  it  makes 
no  returns  ;  other  fields  of  economic  life  must  make  over 
their  savings  for  the  sustenance  of  manufacturing  industry. 

At  the  first  glance  this  seems  amazing,  but  the  fact  is 
most  instructive.  For  what  happens  to  the  savings  of 
the  world  ?  In  so  far  as  they  do  not  create  cultural  institu- 
tions, they  subserve  the  purposes  of  productive  institutions. 
To  a  moderate  extent  the  various  states  store  up  materials 
of  iron  and  treasures  of  gold ;  the  rest  is  used  for  economic 
enterprise,  and  with  the  growth  of  economic  enterprise 
there  is  a  concomitant  growth  in  the  paper  tokens,  the 
printed  formulas  of  currency.  This  increase  in  interest- 
bearing  enterprises  must  perforce  continue  while  population 
continues  to  increase,  and  so  long  as  the  individual  still 
lacks  purchasable  commodities  which  he  would  fain  possess. 

A  corresponding  growth  takes  place  in  the  aggregate  of 
the  world's  investments.  The  annual  increase  is  precisely 
equivalent  to  what  is  saved  from  the  income  of  the  workers 
and  the  income  of  the  recipients  of  interest  after  the 
expenditure  of  what  is  needed  for  current  consumption, 
for  the  general  purposes  of  civilisation,  and  for  armaments. 
The  savings  out  of  the  wages  of  labour  are  comparatively 


72      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

small.  We  may  doubt  whether  they  increase  proportionally 
to  the  increase  in  wages,  so  long  as  the  desires  of  the  average 
consumer  remain  unsatiated.  Consequently  the  annual 
investments  of  the  world  consist  chiefly  of  the  interest  on 
capital  after  the  deduction  of  the  current  consumption  of 
the  owners  of  capital.  The  amount  of  this  consumption 
is  regulated  by  various  factors,  which  have  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with  the  amount  of  aggregate  interest.  These 
factors  are:  the  distribution  of  the  separate  portions  of 
interest ;  the  average  standard  of  life;  moral  values.  If 
all  the  capital  in  the  world  were  owned  by  a  single  individual, 
so  that  consumption  were  thereby  reduced  to  a  minimum, 
then,  without  danger  to  economic  life,  and  therefore  in 
actual  fact,  interest,  and  therewith  the  average  rate  of 
interest  throughout  the  world,  could  never  be  less  than 
corresponds  to  the  expenditure  which  the  world  economy 
needs  for  its  continuous  expansion. 

Fundamentally,  therefore,  and  in  its  amount,  interest 
is  determined  by  the  requirements  of  world  investment  ; 
it  is  the  reserve  which  the  world  is  forced  to  make  for  the 
maintenance  of  its  economic  system ;  it  is  a  tax  upon 
production,  universally  raised  at  the  point  of  production, 
as  a  primary  charge.  It  will  be  inevitable,  even  when 
all  the  means  of  production  are  concentrated  into  a  single 
hand,  indifferently  whether  the  hand  be  that  of  an  individual, 
of  a  state,  or  of  a  community  of  states.  It  can  only  be 
diminished  by  the  amount  corresponding  to  the  consumption 
of  the  present  owners  of  capital. 

Thus  the  nationalisation  of  the  means  of  production 
has  no  economic  significance.  Conversely,  the  concentration 
of  capital  into  a  few  hands  does  not  entail  any  economic 
danger  beyond  that  of  arbitrariness  in  consumption  and 
in  the  forms  of  investment.  But  inasmuch  as  we  have 
seen  that  the  forms  of  investment  will  still  be  determined 
by  a  competition  between  the  interests  upon  capital,  the 
purely  economic  difficulty  of  just  distribution  is  restricted 
to  the  domain  of  consumption.  Interest  per  se  is  indis- 
pensable to  provide  what  is  annually  needed  for  world 
investment.  Nor  does  it  matter  who  pays  the  interest — 
provided  always  that  it  is  devoted  to  the  purpose  of 
investment.  What  matters  is,  whether  and  how  far  the 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      73 

recipient  of  interest  has  the  right  to  use  it  to  the  detriment 
of  the  community  for  unprofitable  expenditure,  how  far 
he  has  the  right  to  squander  it  on  pleasure.  The  economic 
problem  becomes  a  problem  of  consumption. 

But  further  considerations  press.  First  of  all  comes 
the  question  of  power.  If  all  capital  were  concentrated 
in  the  hands  of  an  intelligent  and  sober-minded  individual, 
his  personal  consumption  would  be  trifling.  All  the  saved 
interest  would  accrue,  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
of  rational  selection,  to  the  benefit  of  the  various  enterprises, 
and  would  be  devoted  to  the  increase  of  their  functional 
capacity.  To  this  extent,  our  hypothetical  recipient  of 
interest  would  be  a  useful  administrator  of  the  world's 
economic  system.  But  in  another  sense  he  would  not  be 
this.  For  everything  in  economic  life  would  depend  on 
his  favour,  likewise  everything  in  political  life,  and  likewise 
in  the  last  resort  all  the  amenities  of  civilisation.  At  his 
nod,  one  would  be  exalted,  another  degraded  ;  one  district 
would  be  favoured,  another  left  desolate.  He  could  stipulate 
whatever  reciprocal  service  he  pleased  in  return  for  his 
favour.  The  freedom  of  the  world  would  be  destroyed, 
for  ownership  in  its  modern  form  is  power. 

A  further  question  arises,  that  of  unjust  demands.  Even 
if  it  should  prove  possible,  through  the  restriction  of 
immoderate  consumption,  to  reduce  interest,  there  would 
still  be  no  guarantee  that  the  share  of  the  lower  classes 
in  the  property  of  the  world  would  be  increased.  Monopolies, 
speculative  gains,  and  frauds,  would  still  be  possible  ;  the 
recipients  of  interest  and  legatees,  functionless  persons, 
could  live  as  parasites  on  the  community.  There  would 
be  a  state  of  drones  within  the  state. 

If  the  socialistic  method  of  the  nationalisation  of  capital 
be  excluded  as  impracticable  and  ineffective,  we  are  confronted 
with  an  apparently  insoluble  antinomy  :  the  concentration 
of  property  reduces  comparative  consumption,  and  there- 
with reduces  interest,  but  endangers  the  balance  of  power ; 
the  dividing-up  of  property  lessens  the  concentration  of 
power,  but  increases  consumption,  and  reduces  the  functional 
capacity  of  interest.  Both  these  alternatives  are  attended 
with  the  danger  of  unjust  demands. 

We  can  discern  a  similar  cleavage  when  we  study  the 


74      IN        DAYS        TO        GOME 

great  natural  system  of  the  distribution  of  the  waters  that 
fall  on  the  surface  of  the  globe.  An  exclusive  system  of 
mighty  rivers,  retaining  these  waters  within  their  banks, 
would  avoid  waste,  but  would  be  unpractical  in  its  working, 
for  the  plains  would  be  arid.  A  close  network  of  streams 
and  springs  allows  much  to  ooze  away  and  much  to  evaporate, 
but  it  irrigates  the  meadows  and  glens,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
manage.  Nature,  however,  supplements  these  systems  by 
a  third.  By  evaporation,  the  waters  are  kept  in  constant 
circulation.  There  rise  ever  from  the  vast  expanses  of 
the  sea  to  pass  through  the  atmosphere  streams  which  are 
mightier  than  the  visible  streams  of  the  land,  streams  which 
unwearyingly  distribute  their  riches  and  besprinkle  the 
fruitful  soil. 

Here,  where  the  fertilising  distribution  of  the  possessions 
of  the  world  is  our  task,  it  behoves  us  to  discover  the  third 
force  which  shall  create  a  new  mobility.  We  must  discover 
the  force  that  will  effect  an  up  and  down  movement  of  the 
masses  in  a  direction  perpendicular  to  the  levels  of  rigid 
compulsion  ;  a  force  that  will  create  out  of  superabundance, 
will  supply  where  there  is  need ;  a  force  which  shall  put 
into  the  general  circulation  the  resources  stored  in  the 
reservoirs  of  the  state — a  state  which  is  not  to  be,  as  now, 
a  parched  soil  of  indebtedness,  but  a  life-giving  soil,  teeming 
with  wealth. 

Enough  of  comparisons.  We  realise  that  no  mechanical 
management  of  the  property  of  the  world,  no  mechanical 
change  effected  once  and  for  all,  can  bring  about  a  moral 
and  just  regulation  of  the  property  system.  We  shall  have 
to  re-examine  our  ideas  concerning  property,  consumption, 
and  demand,  so  that  we  may  recognise  how  much  permanent 
justice,  and  how  much  antiquated  inheritance  of  crime 
and  error,  are  involved  in  these  concepts  ;  and  in  order 
that  we  may  estimate  what  road  will  be  adopted  by 
reasonable  and  infallible  reality,  so  that  upon  the  path  of 
the  material  world  we  may  draw  nearer  to  the  goal  which 
is  here  termed  Morality  and  in  the  beyond  is  termed  Soul. 

Property,  consumption,  and  demand,  are  not  private 
matters. 

As  long  as  the  world  was  wide  and  thinly  peopled,  as 
long  as  the  economic  domains  were  separate  and  circum- 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      75 

scribed,  each  one  could  win  for  himself  from  nature  whatever 
he  desired  in  the  way  of  vegetable,  animal,  or  human  booty. 
At  will,  he  could  use  this  booty,  barter  it,  make  it  serviceable, 
destroy  it.  To-day  the  world  has  become  a  densely  populated 
and  cunningly  articulated  structure,  permeated  by  number- 
less visible  and  invisible  arteries,  nerves,  partitions,  and 
receptacles ;  cared  for,  protected,  watched  over,  ordered, 
by  innumerable  animate  and  inanimate  forces.  Every 
step  creates  rights,  imposes  duties,  incurs  costs,  entails 
dangers ;  every  step  trenches  upon  alien  rights,  alien 
property,  alien  spheres  of  life.  Every  individual  has  need 
of  the  common  protection,  of  the  communal  institutions, 
which  he  did  not  create  ;  of  the  corn,  which  he  did  not  sow  ; 
of  the  linen,  which  he  did  not  spin.  The  roof  under  which 
he  sleeps,  the  street  in  which  he  walks,  the  tool  which  he 
handles,  have  all  been  made  by  the  community ;  and  he 
has  no  more  than  that  share  in  them  which  mutual  agreement 
and  custom  assign  to  him.  The  very  air  which  he  breathes 
is  not  free ;  it  is  protected  and  purified  from  exhalations 
and  vapours,  from  disease  germs  and  poisons. 

When  we  survey  this  infinitude  of  restrictions,  encum- 
brances, and  obligations,  it  is  difficult  to  realise  the  extent 
of  economic  freedom  which  the  individual  nevertheless 
possesses.  Owing  everything  to  the  community,  he  can 
work  for  the  community  as  much  or  as  little  as  he  pleases ; 
he  chooses  this  work  freely,  whether  it  be  useful  or  utterly 
superfluous ;  he  can  misuse,  spoil,  or  destroy  whatever 
property  he  possesses  ;  he  can  demand  from  the  community 
guarantees  for  his  ownership,  and  can  even  claim  from  the 
community  a  careful  provision  for  the  carrying  out  of  his 
will  after  his  death. 

In  days  to  come,  people  will  find  it  difficult  to  under- 
stand that  the  will  of  a  dead  man  could  bind  the  living ; 
that  any  individual  was  empowered  to  enclose  for  his  private 
gratification  mile  upon  mile  of  land ;  that  without  requiring 
any  special  authorisation  from  the  state  he  could  leave 
cultivable  land  untilled,  could  demolish  buildings  or  erect 
them,  ruin  beautiful  landscapes,  secrete  or  disfigure  works 
of  art  ;  that  he  conceived  himself  justified,  by  appropriate 
business  methods,  in  bringing  whatever  portion  he  could  of 
the  communal  property  under  his  own  private  control ; 


76      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

justified,  provided  he  paid  his  taxes,  in  using  this  property 
as  he  pleased,  in  taking  any  number  of  men  into  his  own 
service  and  setting  them  to  whatever  work  seemed  good 
to  him,  so  long  only  as  there  was  no  technical  violation  of 
the  law ;  justified  in  engaging  in  any  kind  of  business,  so 
long  as  he  did  not  infringe  a  state  monopoly  or  promote 
any  enterprise  legally  defined  as  a  swindle  ;  justified  in 
any  practice,  however  absurd  and  however  harmful  to 
the  community,  provided  always  he  remained  able  to  pay 
his  way. 

During  recent  decades  we  have  seen  that  the  bourgeoisie 
has  come  to  regard  as  unremunerative  art  and  political 
trifling  everything  lying  outside  the  domain  of  a  busy 
individualist  economic  life,  everything  which  cannot  be 
explained  in  terms  of  profit  and  loss.  Now,  at  the  opening 
of  the  second  year  of  the  war,  it  is  beginning  to  dawn 
upon  the  bourgeois  intelligence  that  all  economic  life  is 
rooted  in  the  state,  that  state  policy  must  take  pre- 
cedence of  business,  that  the  individual  stands  indebted 
to  the  community  for  what  he  owns  and  for  what  he 
can  do. 

Too  long,  in  economic  affairs,  has  individualistic  industry, 
guided  by  the  rationalist  notion  of  individual  rights  and 
liberties,  been  tardy  and  mutinous  in  yielding  to  the  demands 
of  the  community.  Those  who  did  give  ground,  felt  that 
injustice  was  being  done  them.  They  yielded  in  the  spirit 
in  which  people  comply  with  the  demands  of  some  sturdy 
beggar.  The  community  must  ask  itself  what  claims  it  is 
entitled  to  put  forward  in  the  name  of  the  higher  law.  When 
these  demands  have  been  satisfied,  there  will  accrue  to 
individualist  economics  whatever  is  left  over,  whatever  is 
indispensable  to  the  maintenance  of  its  mechanism  and  to 
the  provision  of  an  adequate  standard  of  life  for  its  overseers. 

After  this  discussion  of  warranties,  we  must  draw 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  regulation  of  consumption 
will  unlock  the  only  storehouse  from  which  the  abundance 
of  the  available  economic  materials  can  be  purposively 
increased.  The  natural  increase  in  the  quantity  of  produced 
and  producible  commodities  is  not,  as  many  suppose,  a 
mere  matter  of  will.  Production  is  invariably  limited  by 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      77 

the  actual  supply  of  means  of  production  and  of  labour 
power. 

At  the  opening  of  the  present  economic  era  it  was 
currently  believed  that  luxury  was  advantageous  because 
it  led  to  the  circulation  of  money  throughout  the  community. 

If  we  stretch  a  point,  we  may  concede  the  truth  of  this 
for  the  early  days  of  industrial  activity,  when  artificial 
stimulation  may  be  requisite.  But  in  the  higher  stages 
of  its  evolution,  economic  life  depends  upon  the  deliberate 
concentration  of  all  available  energies.  Rightly,  therefore, 
does  the  term  economy  connote  the  idea  of  thrift. 

When  a  Roman  magnate  despatched  five  hundred  slaves 
to  catch  a  rare  fish,  or  when  the  Egyptian  queen  dissolved 
her  pearl  in  vinegar,  to  either  the  expenditure  might  seem 
justified,  for  the  slaves  were  fed  during  their  working  day, 
while  the  pearl  fishers  were  remunerated  for  their  years 
of  danger.  It  behoves  us  to  take  other  views.  Working 
days  and  working  years  squandered  for  brief  glitter  or 
fugitive  enjoyment  are  lost  beyond  recall.  They  have 
been  taken  from  the  restricted  modicum  of  labour  in  the 
world,  their  yield  has  been  withdrawn  from  the  niggard 
supply  of  our  planet.  All  have  a  title  to  the  product  of  the 
labour  for  whose  performance  all  must  work  together  as 
if  bound  by  an  invisible  chain. 

The  years  of  labour  requisite  for  the  production  of  some 
delicate  embroidery,  or  some  elaborate  pageant,  have  been 
filched  from  the  clothing  of  the  poorest  among  us ;  the 
carefully  mown  lawns  of  a  private  garden  could  with  less 
expenditure  of  labour  have  grown  wheat ;  the  steam  yacht, 
with  its  captain  and  crew,  with  its  stores  of  food  and  coal, 
has  been  withheld  for  the  whole  term  of  its  existence  from 
the  possibility  of  playing  a  useful  part  in  the  world's 
commerce. 

Economically  regarded,  the  world,  and  still  more  the 
nation,  is  a  union  of  producers.  Whoever  squanders  labour, 
labour-time,  or  the  means  of  labour,  is  robbing  the  community. 
Consumption  is  no  private  matter,  but  a  communal  affair ; 
it  is  an  affair  of  state,  of  morality,  of  humanity. 

Here  we  encounter  an  antinomy.  Everything  that  is 
produced,  is  used  up,  is  used  up  by  consumption.  In  the 
most  advantageous  case,  it  serves  for  the  production  of 


78      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

new  things,  which  in  turn  are  used  up  in  consumption. 
If,  then,  every  commodity  is  created  for  consumption, 
and  if  all  consumption  serves  for  the  maintenance  of  life 
and  for  the  expansion  of  life,  why  should  one  instance  of 
consumption  be  regarded  as  justified,  and  why  should 
another  be  looked  upon  as  harmful  ?  If  everything  passes 
by  the  same  road,  the  determinative  principle  by  which  our 
judgment  is  guided  must  be  the  order  of  importance. 

Such  is  actually  the  case.  It  is  the  order  of  importance 
in  demand,  upon  which  depends  the  serial  arrangement  of 
our  ideas,  from  necessary  consumption  to  frivolous  luxury. 
Any  act  of  consumption  is  an  act  of  luxury  if  there  remain 
unsatisfied  some  primary  need  which  could  have  been 
satisfied  had  the  luxurious  demand  remained  unfulfilled. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  write  a  treatise  upon  luxury, 
or  a  manual  of  casuistry.  The  notion  of  elementary  and 
urgent  need  is  a  variable  one ;  this  is  incontestible,  and  a 
matter  of  trifling  significance.  No  one  will  insist  upon  a 
mechanically  precise  statement  of  such  a  concept.  If  an 
entire  province  is  hunger-stricken,  we  must  not  unreflectingly 
censure  as  extravagant  the  provision  of  a  special  train 
which  is  to  carry  a  responsible  statesman  to  the  centre  of 
the  starving  district ;  nor  is  it  spendthrift  to  provide  for 
the  intellectual  worker  the  necessary  safeguarding  from  the 
frictions  of  daily  life,  even  when  this  segregation  must 
be  purchased  by  a  general  sacrifice  in  the  form  of  space 
and  labour.  But  the  name  of  luxury  must  be  applied  to 
that  which  the  thoughtless  crowd  describes  as  a  charity 
ffite,  must  be  applied  to  pleasure-seeking  expenditure  which 
masquerades  under  the  name  of  philanthropy,  and  which 
with  cold-hearted  compassion  credits  its  victims  with  the 
value  of  emptied  magnums  of  champagne. 

It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  know  that  an  order 
of  importance  can  reasonably  be  established  among  our 
needs.  Therewith  the  antinomy  of  consumption  is  solved. 

If  from  the  outlook  of  this  order  of  importance  we 
contemplate  the  world's  production  of  goods,  we  realise  with 
a  terrible  sense  of  shock  the  fatuity  of  contemporary  economic 
life.  The  superfluous,  the  null,  the  harmful,  and  the 
contemptible,  are  heaped  up  in  our  shops.  We  find  there 
the  useless  gauds  of  fashion,  destined  to  glitter  for  an 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS       79 

hour  with  a  spurious  light ;  intoxicants,  stimulants,  and 
anodynes  galore  ;  nauseating  scents  ;  worthless  imitations 
of  industrial  and  artistic  models  ;  articles  made  not  for 
use  but  for  show ;  trash  of  all  kinds  which  serves  as  the 
small  change  for  those  who  are  compelled  by  convention 
to  give  one  another  presents.  Season  after  season  the 
show-cases  are  refilled  with  these  most  futile  of  latest 
novelties.  The  manufacture,  transport,  and  sale  of  such 
articles,  require  the  labour  of  millions  of  hands  ;  demand 
raw  materials,  coal,  machines,  and  factories  ;  occupy  nearly 
a  third  of  the  industry  and  commerce  of  the  world.  He 
who,  over  his  glass,  has  been  extolling  the  incomparable 
splendour  of  our  civilisation,  should  on  his  way  home  glance 
into  the  shop  windows,  and  convince  himself  that  this  same 
civilisation  breeds  strange  desires.  He  who  sees  a  garden- 
plot  desecrated  by  the  senseless  humour  of  earthenware 
gnomes,  hares,  and  toadstools,  may  contemplate  the  spectacle 
as  an  image  of  the  ill-conducted  economy  of  our  day.  Were 
but  half  of  this  squandered  labour  directed  into  suitable 
channels,  it  could  provide  food,  clothing,  and  shelter  for 
every  impoverished  wight  among  the  dwellers  in  civilised 
lands. 

At  a  later  stage  we  shall  have  to  consider  the  incalculable 
responsibility  for  these  economic  malpractices,  and  to  refer 
to  the  share  in  the  blame  which  unfortunately  attaches  to 
women.  Enough  now  to  say  that  by  wisely  economising 
the  extravagances  that  disgrace  our  own  epoch,  the  future 
can  and  will  create  means  to  generalise  a  sufficiency  of 
wellbeing.  Upon  us  it  devolves  to  recognise  what  is  amiss, 
and  to  seek  for  a  remedy,  inspired  by  the  knowledge  that 
the  consumption  of  commodities  is  not  a  private  matter, 
and  aware  that  this  consumption  is  derived  from  the  stores 
of  forces  and  materials  which  are  procurable  in  strictly 
limited  quantities,  and  for  which  each  one  of  us  must  share 
responsibility. 

Consequently  the  methods  of  production  are  not  a 
private  affair,  but  are  matters  of  public  interest.  If  we 
take  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  wellbeing  of  our  age, 
no  matter  whether  it  seems  to  be  derived  from  industry 
or  from  commerce,  we  find  that  in  ultimate  analysis  it 
depends  upon  coal,  the  noblest  raw  material  on  our  planet. 


80      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

That  which  during  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  grew 
as  a  precious  vegetation,  that  which  was  condensed  into 
balsams  and  essences  of  complex  composition,  and  that 
which,  age  after  age,  has  been  stored  up  in  the  bowels  of 
the  earth,  is  torn  out  from  the  hidden  recesses  by  the  men 
of  our  generation,  and  is  devoted  by  them  to  the  ignoble 
service  of  a  thoughtless  and  wasteful  burning.  It  would 
be  a  well-merited  disgrace  if  this  economic  epoch  were  in 
the  future  to  be  stigmatised  as  the  age  of  the  coal  robbers, 
for  it  has  derived  its  wealth  from  the  rifling  of  these  hoards. 
Too  late  have  we  learned  the  value  of  this  true  philosopher's 
stone  ;  too  late  are  we  beginning  to  husband  the  treasure. 
It  should  be  a  matter  for  legislation  to  promote  the  careful 
separation  of  the  fossil  substance  by  distillation  and  other 
means,  so  that  only  the  comparatively  valueless  residue 
should  be  applied  to  the  generation  of  energy  by  combustion. 
It  should  further  be  a  matter  for  legislation  to  take  measures 
against  the  squandering  of  energy  by  the  employment  of 
imperfect  mechanical  appliances,  by  false  parsimony,  and 
by  the  wasteful  use  of  labour  power.  If  coal  were  honoured 
as  we  honour  wheat  and  bread,  the  problem  of  its  prime 
cost  of  production  would  cease  to  trouble  us,  and  therewith 
the  struggle  with  the  miners  about  wages  would  cease. 
Just  as  economic  considerations  have  been  overruled  in 
order  that  demands  for  the  safety  and  wellbeing  of  the 
workers  may  be  fulfilled,  so  likewise  is  it  necessary  that 
material  objects  indispensable  to  economic  life  shall  be 
protected  against  ignorant  and  thriftless  waste. 

It  is  obvious  that  a  tabular  statement  of  the  outlay 
on  consumption  does  not  include  the  expenditure  of  the 
nations  for  cultural  purposes ;  nevertheless,  it  will  be  as 
well  to  differentiate  this  expenditure  very  clearly  from  the 
concept  of  consumption,  so  that  opposing  inferences  may 
be  linked  up  with  the  discussion. 

Needs  have  been  considered  in  their  serial  order  of 
importance,  so  that  we  might  emphasise  the  relativity  of 
the  notion  of  luxury ;  but  no  attempt  has  been  made  to 
discuss  the  question,  whither,  in  the  last  resort,  consumption 
leads,  and  what  final  purpose  it  subserves.  If  we  believed 
that  the  maintenance  and  reproduction  of  life  comprised  the 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      81 

whole  meaning  of  the  world's  work  and  of  its  stream  of 
commodities,  then  sympathy  and  the  love  of  pleasure  would 
be  the  meagre  energies  which,  without  conviction  and 
without  passion,  would  guide  our  will  on  the  path  to  the 
future.  Our  will  towards  perfectionment,  ardent  and  full 
of  faith,  presupposes  and  demonstrates  the  emergence  of 
absolute  values  ;  inasmuch  as  we  contemplate  and  proclaim 
the  growth  of  the  soul,  we  prepare  its  way  by  the  upbuilding 
of  that  intermediate  world  which  is  based  upon  matter  and 
has  its  summits  in  the  sublime.  This  world  is  enduring ; 
what  mankind  has  glimpsed  and  experienced  in  the  way 
of  love,  art,  faith,  and  thought,  can  never  be  lost ;  Jacob's 
dream  is  realised  as  the  undying  work  of  the  human  mission. 

The  purport  of  all  earthly  economy  is  the  creation  of 
ideal  values.  For  this  reason,  the  sacrifice  of  material 
goods  which  these  ideal  values  demand,  is  not  the  expenditure 
of  consumption,  but  the  ultimate  fulfilment  of  the  aforesaid 
mission.  Consequently  all  genuinely  cultural  tasks  elude 
economic  estimates  ;  they  are  incommensurable  with  goods 
and  with  life  ;  they  are  beyond  price,  and  can  be  assigned 
a  definite  value  solely  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging  them 
for  higher  idealities ;  they  are  not  means,  they  are  not 
current  coin,  but  self-existent  entities. 

When  we  are  discussing  the  distribution  of  property, 
we  shall  have  to  consider  the  converse  of  this  question, 
which  runs  as  follows  :  How  is  it  possible  to  increase  the 
flow  of  earthly  goods  to  the  sacrificial  places  where  the 
material  is  subtilised  to  become  spiritual  ? 

We  here  approach  a  matter  which  will  demand  fuller 
discussion  at  a  later  stage.  I  refer  to  the  modification  in 
moral  sensibility  which  must  precede  and  accompany  the 
new  outlook  in  economics.  But  akeady  we  touch  upon 
the  threefold  principle  :  economics  is  not  a  private  matter, 
but  a  communal  matter ;  it  is  not  an  end  in  itself,  but  a 
means  for  the  attainment  of  the  absolute  ;  it  is  not  a  right, 
but  a  duty. 

To  expound  the  mechanical  means,  the  measures  and  the 
laws,  requisite  for  the  realisation  of  these  fundamental  ideas 
in  any  specific  country,  and  above  all  in  Germany,  will 
be  my  concern  in  this  work  only  in  the  case  of  new-fashioned 
ideas,  which  seem  to  hover  in  the  air,  although  their  connection 

6 


82      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

with  the  extant  and  the  human — in  a  word  their  reality — 
has  not  yet  been  constructively  established.  My  primary 
purpose  is  to  indicate  goals.  Just  as  the  architect  can 
expound  the  theory  of  the  arch  and  its  value,  without 
producing  the  designs  of  any  actual  building  until  its  size 
has  been  prescribed,  until  its  site  has  been  chosen,  and  the 
means  for  its  construction  have  been  provided,  so  we  may 
be  content  to  point  out  that  recognised  goals,  goals  upon 
whose  attainment  we  can  unite,  may  be  reached  by 
innumerable  routes  which  have  already  been  sufficiently 
explored.  The  choice  from  among  these  routes  may  be 
left  to  be  decided  in  accordance  with  the  circumstances  of 
the  time  and  with  mechanical  possibilities.  Our  function 
here  is  to  save  a  despised  building  material  from  the  rubbish- 
heap  of  prejudice,  and  to  lay  the  foundations  for  the  erection 
of  future  economic  edifices.  We  have  to  direct  our  attention 
to  the  idea  of  legislation  for  the  control  of  luxury. 

Taxes  upon  expenditure,  taxes  upon  luxury,  are  subject 
to  the  commonplace  criticism  that  their  results  are  deceptive, 
seeing  that  they  restrict  consumption.  Consequently  they 
seem  ineffective  when  considered  from  the  financial  outlook, 
so  that  accessory  matters  are  regarded  as  essential,  while 
the  chief  effect  is  looked  upon  as  a  harmful  accessory.  If 
we  invert  the  problem,  so  that  the  restriction  of  useless 
consumption  is  made  the  primary  aim,  the  riddle  of 
efficiency  is  spontaneously  solved.  When  we  recall  that 
every  string  of  pearls  imported  into  the  country  corresponds 
to  the  expenditure  needed  for  the  improvement  of  a  landed 
estate,  or  makes  us  indebted  to  foreigners  for  an  annual 
interest  equivalent  to  the  yield  of  a  prosperous  farm  ;  when 
we  recall  that  every  thousand  bottles  of  champagne  pur- 
chased from  France  swallows  up  the  cost  of  training  a 
technician  or  a  man  of  learning ;  that  the  money  spent 
upon  our  imports  of  silk,  plumage,  scents,  etc.,  would  suffice 
to  relieve  all  the  poverty  in  Germany  ;  that  the  excess  of 
expenditure  upon  distilled  liquors  in  this  country  as  compared 
with  the  United  States  is  equivalent  to  the  burden  of  our 
war  loans — if  we  think  of  these  and  of  a  hundred  different 
instances,  we  shall  find  it  difficult  to  understand  how  society 
can  tolerate  such  squandering  of  the  national  wealth,  and 
how  it  can  refrain  from  making  effective  use  of  the  legitimate 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      83 

methods  of  taxation.  People's  minds  are  still  dominated 
by  the  preposterous  notion  that  luxury  promotes  the 
circulation  of  money,  that  consumption  is  a  private  matter, 
that  people  would  be  thrown  out  of  work  by  transferring 
them  from  destructive  occupations  to  creative  occupations. 

In  Germany  the  levying  of  income  tax  is  taken  as  a 
matter  of  course.  It  is  even  regarded  with  a  certain  moral 
approbation,  on  the  ground  that  one  who  has  much  can 
easily  spare  a  trifle.  The  natural  inference  is  that  whatever 
anyone  saves  is  stored  up  as  a  snug  increase  of  property, 
so  that  it  may  be  just  as  well  to  deduct  something  from 
this  increase.  But  no  one  proposes  to  touch  the  expenditure 
upon  consumption. 

In  accordance  with  the  views  of  those  who  live  upon 
"  private  means,"  the  claims  of  the  community  are  like 
those  of  some  poor  relation  on  an  unsolicited  visit,  who  is 
fobbed  off  with  the  minimum  of  good  cheer.  It  is  true  that 
we  tax  income  ;  it  is  true  that  we  tax  savings.  But  the 
root  of  the  mischief  lies  in  consumption  ;  and  consumption 
should  be  taxed  in  such  a  way  that  in  the  case  of  any 
expenditure  beyond  a  reasonable  minimum  (reckoned  at 
so  much  per  head  of  population),  for  each  shilling  con- 
sumed, a  shilling  should  accrue  to  the  state. 

The  obvious  objection  that  thereby  we  shall  increase  the 
incentive  towards  saving,  and  shall  foster  the  tendency  of 
property  towards  growth  and  inequality,  will  be  answered 
when  we  come  to  consider  the  fate  of  private  property. 
There  are  plenty  of  other  ways,  and  more  effective  ways, 
of  preventing  an  increase  in  inequality.  Moreover,  the 
taxation  of  savings  has  never  prevented  saving,  but  has 
served  merely  to  mask  the  incidence  of  taxation ;  whereas 
we  start  from  the  principle  that  the  more  taxation  is  felt, 
the  better,  so  long  as  its  influence  definitely  tends  towards 
the  reduction  of  that  which  is  most  injurious  to  the  com- 
munal property — towards  the  reduction  of  improper  con- 
sumption. 

From  these  preliminaries  many  readers  will  infer  that 
the  author's  aim  is  to  extol  an  ascetic  puritanism,  solely 
concerned  with  hard  work  adequate  nutriment,  the  provision 
of  durable  clothing  and  solid  furniture,  supplying  at  the 
best  an  efficient  middle-school  education,  and  based  upon  the 


84      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

general  diffusion  of  sound  religious  sentiments.  The  pro- 
fession of  faith  that  all  inner  life  must  be  devoted  to  the 
growth  of  the  soul,  and  all  outer  life  to  the  increase  of  ideal 
goods,  should  suffice  to  avert  this  criticism.  In  addition, 
it  may  be  well  to  point  out  that  the  new  order  must  not 
be  devoid  of  the  rainbow  vesture  of  material  splendour, 
luxury,  and  display,  the  vesture  which  to-day  is  apt  to 
conceal  from  our  enfeebled  vision  so  much  of  the  true  glory 
of  the  world.  Wherever  the  community  presents  itself  as 
a  host,  it  will  do  well  as  a  sign  of  its  freedom  and  liberality, 
to  surround  itself  with  the  apparatus  of  display,  just  as 
did  Rome  and  Athens,  Venice  and  Augsburg,  Versailles  and 
Potsdam.  But  the  people  of  to-morrow  take  another  view 
of  the  over-refinement  which  displays  itself  in  exclusiveness, 
of  the  insatiable  greed  which  lurks  behind  screens  and 
curtains,  behind  windows  and  folding-doors,  amid  cushions 
and  knicknacks.  Whilst  our  age  is  all  too  familiar  with 
the  idea  of  display,  it  seems  to  have  lost  touch  with  the 
idea  of  distinction.  Display  influences  a  crowd  kept  at  a 
distance  and  condemned  to  an  open-mouthed  wonderment. 
Distinction,  with  a  tacit  reserve,  gives  expression  to  an 
inner  nobility ;  its  essence  is  renunciation ;  and  while  it 
seems  to  be  gently  repelling,  it  is  in  truth  attracting  and 
urging  upwards.  Sparta  and  the  Prussia  of  earlier  days 
are  distinguished ;  Paris  and  imperial  Rome  manifest  an 
inseparable  combination  of  display  and  vulgarity.  The 
inadequately  esteemed  artistic  epoch  of  the  Prussian  renais- 
sance of  a  century  ago  may  serve  to  us  as  an  example  of  the 
way  in  which  beauty  originates,  not  through  the  imitation 
of  gorgeous  pomp,  but  through  quiet  absorption  in  the  most 
modest  of  tasks. 

We  have  cursorily  examined  the  enormous  importance  of 
consumption  and  its  regulation  as  far  as  concerns  the 
economic  life  of  the  future.  Simultaneously,  we  have 
formulated  a  demand  for  a  changed  ethical  and  economic 
outlook,  and  for  the  radiation  of  this  outlook  into  the  legal 
structure  of  the  state. 

Now  that  we  turn  to  consider  the  distribution  of 
property,  we  must  take  new  soundings,  and  must  study 
the  movements  of  the  stars,  for  we  shall  no  longer  have 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      85 

the  guidance  previously  afforded  by  our  solution  of  the 
problem  of  consumption.  We  have  seen  that  extreme 
inequalities  in  wealth  are  favourable  rather  than  unfavour- 
able to  the  proper  regulation  of  consumption.  If  all  the 
property  in  the  world  were  concentrated  into  the  hands  of 
a  single  person  and  were  administered  with  a  reasonable 
amount  of  discretion,  there  would  result  so  notable  a 
cheapening  of  commodities  that,  if  the  relationship  of  wages 
and  salaries  to  the  general  turnover  remained  the  same, 
each  individual's  share  would  be  sufficient  to  provide  the 
amenities  of  a  middle-class  life.  As  far  as  our  own  epoch 
is  concerned  nothing  more  than  this  is  possible.  Those 
theorists  are  mistaken  who  expect  any  socio-political  changes 
to  bring  about  a  sudden  increase  in  production  and  a  sudden 
cheapening  of  goods,  for  the  quantity  of  goods  manufactured 
at  any  time  is  solely  determined  by  the  contemporary  supply 
of  the  means  of  production;  and  a  rapid  increase  in  the 
means  of  production  could  only  be  brought  about  by  a 
temporary  but  notable  restriction  of  consumption.  Thus 
what  the  world  has  available  for  consumption  each  year 
is  a  fixed  quantity.  As  we  have  seen,  the  operation  of 
this  law  can  only  be  modified  for  good  by  such  a  modification 
of  production  as  would  convert  foolish  waste  into  useful 
consumption.  If  we  suppose  it  possible  that  the  aggregate 
of  useful  commodities  might  in  this  way  be  increased  by 
one  third,  we  can  calculate  that  in  civilised  countries  the 
distribution  of  this  surplus  would  provide  everyone  with 
the  comforts  of  middle-class  life  For  this  purpose,  each 
family  would  require  to  receive  an  income  of  about  three 
thousand  marks  in  our  currency. 

Whilst  the  theory  of  consumption  thus  fails  us  as  a 
guide  in  the  distribution  of  property,  since  here,  so  to  speak, 
we  traverse  the  point  where  nothing  is  compared  to  nothing, 
it  would  likewise  seem  that  the  demand  for  proletarian 
enfranchisement  has  no  bearing  upon  the  question  of  the 
distribution  of  property,  however  paradoxical  the  latter 
assertion  may  sound.  For  the  condition  of  the  proletariat, 
hi  so  far  as  it  finds  expression  in  economic  relationships, 
is  not  so  much  an  affair  of  a  claim  for  possessions  as  an 
affair  of  a  claim  for  consumption.  If  we  assume  the  most 
extreme  case  of  inequality,  wherein  a  single  individual  has 


86      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

become  owner  of  all  the  property  in  the  world  (a  development 
which  would  not  differ  economically,  even  though  it  might 
differ  morally,  from  the  most  extreme  presupposition  of 
Utopia,  when  the  individual  owner  is  known  as  "  the  state  "), 
it  would  not  be  necessary  for  this  monopolist  to  be  confronted 
by  any  proletariat.  All  the  rest  of  us  would,  indeed,  be 
his  employees  ;  but  it  would  depend  upon  our  own  communal 
feeling  and  communal  activities,  what  system  of  distributing 
the  annually  produced  quantum  of  commodities  would  in 
fact  be  adopted.  Always  assuming  that  the  owner  of  the 
world's  production  is  a  reasonable  person,  we  can  conceive 
of  only  five  fields  of  distribution.  The  monopolist  must 
hand  over  part  of  the  product  to  us,  his  workmen  and 
employees.  He  must  reserve  a  second  portion  for  the 
renovation  and  improvement  of  the  productive  apparatus 
and  for  other  purposes  useful  to  the  community.  He  can 
save  up  a  third  portion,  consisting  of  the  necessaries  of 
life,  as  a  provision  for  lean  years.  He  can  consume  a  fourth 
portion  himself.  If  he  should  be  a  malevolent  fool,  he  can 
destroy  a  fifth  portion.  No  sixth  use  for  the  product  is 
conceivable.  Since  the  fourth  and  the  fifth  portions  can 
be  neglected,  and  since  the  third  is  unimportant  in  respect 
of  quantity,  we  shall  only  have  to  treat  with  our  employer 
concerning  the  relative  assignments  of  portions  one  and 
two.  He  would  contend  that  care  for  the  future  demands 
an  ampler  provision  for  the  purposes  of  future  production  ; 
we  should  rejoin  that  we  too  want  to  live,  and  that  posterity 
can  look  after  itself.  Be  it  noted  that  this  controversy 
would  run  along  exactly  the  same  lines  whether  the  owner 
passed  by  the  name  of  Rockefeller  or  by  the  name  of  the 
Socialist  State. 

Let  us  suppose  that  this  difficulty  has  been  overcome, 
that  a  decision  has  been  reached  concerning  the  portion  to 
be  reinvested.  (It  would  be  at  least  as  large  as,  and  perhaps 
larger  than,  the  portion  reinvested  under  the  existing 
economic  system.)  The  employer  will  be  little  concerned  as 
to  how  we  distribute  among  ourselves  the  portion  reserved 
for  immediate  consumption,  provided  always  that  no  grave 
dissatisfaction  ensues,  and  no  disinclination  to  work. '  Once 
more,  if  we  take  the  extant  aggregate  of  production  as  the 
standard,  it  will  be  possible  to  arrange  for  an  average  annual 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      87 

expenditure  which,  in  the  terms  of  our  present  currency, 
would  amount  to  three  thousand  marks. 

Are  we  now  proletarians  ?  Not  at  all.  There  is  pro- 
vision for  the  education  and  maintenance  of  our  offspring. 
No  one  in  the  world — with  the  exception  of  the  monopolist, 
who  may  also  be  the  state  authority — has  a  greater  right 
than  we.  The  entire  portion  of  the  world's  products  that 
has  been  allotted  for  the  general  consumption  is  at  our 
disposal ;  the  distribution  of  it  is  in  our  own  hands.  Here 
is  a  strange  paradox.  If  we  push  individual  ownership  to 
its  ultimate  extreme  the  proletarian  status  disappears. 
It  would  seem  to  be  simple  to  transfer  the  chain  of  reasoning 
from  a  single  universal  owner  to  two,  from  two  to  ten,  a 
hundred,  a  thousand,  and  to  demonstrate  that  the  ownership 
of  property  has  no  bearing  upon  the  proletarian  status, 
since  this  latter,  economically  considered,  depends  rather 
upon  the  right  of  consumption  than  upon  property. 

The  inference  would  be  premature,  for  it  leaves  two 
things  out  of  account,  the  fact  that  the  proletarian  status 
is  that  of  a  hereditary  caste,  and  the  fact  that  ownership 
gives  power.  The  power  of  an  individual  owner  of  the 
world  would  be  great,  and  yet,  except  to  those  in  immediate 
relationship  with  him,  it  would  never  be  plainly  apparent ; 
it  would  be  greatly  restricted  if  he  were  confronted  by  an 
organised  community.  His  private  interests  would  be 
little  more  injurious  to  this  unity  than  are  the  family 
interests  of  an  intelligent  dynast  who  is  careful  to  avoid 
showing  favour  to  any  particular  class.  The  chief  interest 
of  the  world  monopolist  would  be  to  retain  his  position  of 
power  and  to  safeguard  his  right  to  transmit  it  by  inheritance. 
If  these  two  things  be  assured,  he  can  gain  nothing  by 
withholding  culture,  rights,  and  responsibilities,  from  his 
employees. 

A  multiplicity  of  owners,  on  the  other  hand,  will  combine 
to  form  a  class,  especially  when  their  rights  are  hereditarily 
transmissible.  They  think  of  increase  as  well  as  of  security. 
They  may  struggle  among  themselves,  but  their  chief 
opponent  is  the  subject  class,  all  the  more  when  members 
of  this  class  are  not  formally  excluded  from  ownership,  but 
can  acquire  property,  or  perhaps  already  possess  a  little. 
It  becomes  a  matter  of  pressing  interest  to  the  owning  class 


88      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

that  the  disinherited  should  be  deprived  of  all  power ;  that 
they  should  be  excluded  from  access  to  the  weapons  of  culture, 
organisation,  and  ownership  ;  that  they  should  be  allowed 
only  such  a  modicum  ot  rights  and  responsibilities  as  is 
essential  to  the  maintenance  of  the  existing  social  equilibrium. 

The  question  of  the  distribution  of  property  becomes 
more  important.  Although  inequality  in  this  distribution 
favours  a  juster  method  of  consumption,  two  accompaniments 
come  to  light,  both  of  which  exercise  a  harmful  influence. 
One  of  these  is  power,  which  is  inseparably  associated  with 
ownership,  and  which  tends  as  time  passes  to  come  more 
into  the  foreground.  The  other  is  inheritance,  traditionally 
associated  with  property,  although  the  association  is  not 
perhaps  destined  to  be  permanent.  In  conjunction,  the 
two  constitute  the  power  of  the  owning  class. 

When  we  have  once  recognised  the  nature  of  these 
relationships,  it  will  be  impossible  for  us  ever  again  to 
advocate  the  free  play  of  forces,  whether  in  respect  of  the 
accumulation  or  in  respect  of  the  distribution  of  private 
property. 

We  have  touched  in  passing  upon  the  idea  of  formative 
education,  and  have  noted  that  a  dominant  class  will 
necessarily  grudge  this  momentous  advantage  to  the  members 
of  a  subject  class.  Our  epoch,  which  does  not  venture  to 
think  deeply  or  to  take  comprehensive  outlooks,  seeing  that 
it  overvalues  knowledge  and  has  therefore  forgotten  how 
to  create,  possesses  the  practical  man's  keenness  of  vision 
for  inequalities  that  lie  close  at  hand.  It  cannot  fail  to 
recognise  that  every  citizen  who,  from  childhood  onwards, 
is  denied  access  to  the  cultural  advantages  of  his  day,  is 
being  robbed.  Not  only  is  the  individual  robbed,  but  the 
state  is  likewise  cheated.  Since  they  are  never  backward 
in  grasping  at  easy  solutions,  our  contemporaries  have 
decided  to  raise  a  voice  here  and  there  on  behalf  of  equality 
in  education,  on  behalf  of  universal  and  equal  education. 

The  demand  is  well-intentioned,  but  its  fulfilment  is 
hampered  by  many  restrictions.  To  say  nothing  of  what 
experience  has  taught  for  years  past  in  neighbouring  lands, 
we  may  conjecture  that  this  direct  approximation  of  the 
classes  in  youth  tends  to  accentuate  rather  than  to  mitigate 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      89 

the  bourgeois  aristocracy  of  superior  culture.  From  desirable 
mansions  and  from  working-class  tenements  the  members 
of  hostile  classes  are  brought  together  as  class  neighbours. 
The  former  have  been  well  cared  for,  and  possess  the  class 
consciousness  of  the  well-to-do  ;  accustomed  to  listen  to 
the  conversation  of  cultured  parents,  they  have  tolerable 
manners,  express  themselves  with  ease,  and  are  already 
equipped  with  the  elements  of  knowledge  derivable  from  an 
environment  of  good  books  and  works  of  art ;  they  have 
gained  experience  from  travel,  and  have  often  profited  by 
elementary  tuition  ;  they  are  vigorous  and  well  nourished, 
with  trained  bodies,  refreshed  by  quiet  sleep.  The  others, 
in  all  these  respects,  display  opposite  characteristics.  Now 
there  is  demanded  from  them  new  behaviour,  a  new  speech, 
and  the  adoption  of  a  new  outlook  ;  they  must  leave  the 
familiar  circle  of  life,  and  while  this  mere  change  of  scene 
is  already  dissipating  part  of  their  energy  and  will  power, 
they  must  laboriously  acquire  a  new  knowledge  which 
comes  so  easily  to  their  well-dressed  schoolmates,  and  which 
these  already  in  large  measure  possess.  Embarrassed  and 
helpless,  these  little  citizens  often  enough  grow  stubborn 
when  obscurely  and  painfully  they  become  aware  of  the 
great  gulf  fixed  between  themselves  and  their  more  fortunate 
companions.  Nothing  but  exceptional  strength  of  will  and 
exceptional  talent  can  bridge  over  this  gulf ;  and,  even  for 
the  exception,  talent  and  will  power  may  prove  without 
influence  upon  the  career.  As  for  the  others,  after  a  brief 
contact,  they  relapse  into  utter  hopelessness,  blaming  not 
merely  the  outward  inequalities  of  fortune,  but  their  own 
presumed  inadequacies 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  education  given  be  specially 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  weaker  and  more  poverty-stricken 
among  the  pupils,  then  the  standard  in  the  classes  will  be 
that  of  the  most  backward,  and  the  method  cannot  fail  to 
exercise  a  retarding,  depressing,  and  blunting  influence 
upon  all.  The  benumbing  hostility  which  our  schools 
display  towards  talent,  the  pitiably  low  level  of  efficiency, 
the  narrowness,  the  hidebound  pedantry  of  the  educational 
methods,  which  have  made  our  young  folk  miserable,  and 
which  are  due  to  the  discontent  of  the  stingily  treated  and 
overworked  teaching  profession — these  futilities  have,  as 


90      IN        DAYS        TO        GOME 

might  be  expected,  the  effect  of  lowering  yet  further  the 
general  level  of  culture,  and  of  diffusing  intellectual 
mediocrity. 

Equality  in  education  can  only  bear  fruit  upon  the  soil 
of  equality  in  the  circumstances  of  life,  equality  in  domestic 
conditions,  and  equality  in  civic  origin.  Upon  this  founda- 
tion, it  is  a  moral  necessity  But  it  will  never  succeed  in 
overcoming  class  contrasts,  however  much  it  may  reduce 
the  general  level. 

Once  again  we  find  ourselves  compelled  by  moral  necessity 
to  adopt  a  policy  of  economic  equality.  Our  purpose  is 
strengthened  when  we  consider  matters  from  a  fresh  stand- 
point, when  we  study  the  economic  relationship  of  the 
state  to  its  chief  tasks. 

The  states  of  to-day  are  mendicants  profoundly  embar- 
rassed by  a  burden  of  debt.  These  supreme  and  all-powerful 
organisations,  which  represent  the  various  subdivisions  of 
the  human  race  as  embodiments  of  the  collective  will ; 
which  are  entitled  to  break  down  every  hindrance  to  a 
pure  expression  of  that  will ;  and  are  called  upon  to  give  to 
it  and  its  elements  suitable  form  and  temporal  expression  ; 
these  structures,  which  should  be  stable  yet  progressive, 
serve  upon  earth  to  give  us  the  high  example  and  the 
experimental  certainty  of  collective  spiritual  fusion  and 
surpassing  spiritual  unity — are  to-day  concerned  about  the 
most  trivial  of  all  questions,  What  does  it  cost  ?  and,  Is 
there  enough  to  pay  for  it  ?  They  are  involved  in  the 
disastrous  economic  struggle  between  fathers  and  sons  which 
is  fought  out  as  the  background  of  every  legislative  proposal. 
The  struggle  ends,  either  in  new  taxes,  which  means  that 
the  fathers  sacrifice  themselves  in  order  that  the  sons  may 
enjoy  ;  or  else  in  new  debts,  which  means  that  the  fathers 
enjoy  themselves  and  leave  it  to  the  sons  to  pay.  Each 
method  has  grave  drawbacks.  Consequently  the  preposterous 
view  prevails  that  state  expenditure  is  fundamentally  evil, 
that  the  happiest  state  is  the  most  parsimonious,  that  the 
curtailment  of  necessary  expenses  is  not  a  crime  but  a  virtue, 
that  moral  duties  must  be  judged  from  the  outlook  of  class. 
Unemployment,  poverty,  endemic  diseases,  might  be  eradi- 
cated ;  the  expense  is  too  great.  A  considerable  proportion 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      91 

of  our  population  is  housed  in  places  unfit  for  human 
habitation  ;  at  a  cost  of  a  few  hundred  millions  these  people 
could  all  be  settled  in  garden  cities — but  where  is  the  money 
to  come  from  ?  The  management  of  popular  education, 
that  task  of  supreme  importance,  is  entrusted  to  minor 
officials,  who  are  ill  paid  and  many  of  whom  are  but  half- 
hearted. Rural  education  is  admittedly  defective,  but 
money  is  scarce.  Scientific  investigations,  the  promotion  of 
the  arts,  philanthropic  enterprises,  are  necessary ;  but 
these  things  have  to  be  left  to  private  initiative,  to  the 
community  at  large.  In  some  cases  the  expense  is  defrayed 
by  collections  of  one  sort  or  another,  or  a  deliberate  appeal 
is  made  to  bourgeois  vanity. 

One  third  of  the  cost  of  the  European  war  would  have 
sufficed  to  make  all  the  states  economically  independent  for 
half  a  century.  History,  whose  teachings  are  forcible  and 
lucid,  will  deliver  her  message  when  the  hurly-burly 
subsides ;  emblematically  she  will  tell  us  the  consequences 
and  leave  us  to  draw  our  own  conclusions ;  then,  many 
a  word  which  we  utter  glibly  to-day,  will  be  re-echoed  in 
our  ears  in  a  different  key.  One  of  these  teachings  will 
be  most  welcome  to  our  petty  bourgeois  parliaments,  for 
these,  partly  owing  to  their  mistrust  of  their  duly  authorised 
governments,  partly  from  professional  narrowness,  partly 
from  fear  of  the  electorate  are  prone  to  administer  the  state 
as  a  business  enterprise  with  limited  liability  and  limited 
means.  I  refer  to  the  lesson  of  the  extended  multiplication 
table.  If  the  means  of  the  individual  should  dwindle,  if 
the  thaler  should  shrink  to  become  a  mark,  all  the  more 
will  it  be  necessary  that  for  state  expenditure  the  unit  of 
reckoning  should  become  a  milliard  instead  of  a  million. 
Our  communal  life  will  not  acquire  new  energy  alike  inwardly 
and  outwardly,  until  we  determine  to  serve  the  commonweal 
more  liberally  in  days  of  scarcity  than  we  have  served  it 
in  days  of  plenty. 

The  goal,  however,  is  that  the  state  should  be  unhampered 
by  material  restrictions.  Its  means  must  enable  it  to 
anticipate  need,  not  to  limp  painfully  after  need.  It  must 
not  be  compelled  to  ask  the  question,  How  can  I  raise  the 
money  ?  It  must  merely  have  to  ask,  How  can  I  best  do 
the  work  ?  It  must  be  able  to  take  effective  action,  to 


92      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

relieve  distress  wherever  it  may  arise,  to  safeguard  the 
country  wherever  it  is  endangered,  to  undertake  any  great 
civilising  task  which  may  be  necessary,  to  perform  every 
desirable  work  of  beautification  or  benevolence.  The  citizen 
may  with  just  pride  contemplate  the  power,  the  wealth, 
the  lavishness  of  the  state  ;  but  he  has  no  right  to  be  proud 
of  the  vastness  of  his  own  private  hoard.  Anyone  who 
believes  this  reallotment  of  energies  is  apriori  impossible, 
anyone  who  has  craven  fears  of  rulers,  secret  service  agents, 
and  intriguers,  lacks  confidence  in  his  nation  and  in  himself. 
He  undervalues  his  nation  if  he  cannot  have  faith  in  the 
existence  of  a  mighty  multitude  able  to  withstand  the  lure 
of  gold.  He  undervalues  himself  if  he  despair  of  the  power 
of  himself  and  his  fellows  to  establish  a  form  of  government 
which  will  place  the  sincere  and  the  strong  in  positions  of 
responsibility.  Not  for  a  day  can  any  nation  be  ruled 
otherwise  than  it  wishes  to  be  ruled  and  therefore  deserves 
to  be  ruled. 

If,  however,  the  state  is  actually  to  be  wealthier,  more 
free-handed,  and  more  powerful,  than  any  private  owner, 
it  must  not  acquire  these  qualities  at  the  expense  of  the 
poor.  We  are  well  aware  that  the  aggregate  of  commodities, 
the  aggregate  of  possibilities  of  consumption,  is  always 
limited  ;  we  know  full  well  that  only  in  Cuckoo-Cloudland 
can  anyone  believe  that  a  mere  transformation  of  claims 
and  privileges  could  effectuate  an  increase  in  the  already 
intensified  world  production.  What  the  wealthy  own  as 
superfluity  in  the  way  of  privileges  and  means,  is  precisely 
what  is  lacking  to  the  state ;  between  the  community  and 
the  state  stands  the  insuperable  antagonism  of  ownership. 

People  have  always  shrunk  from  the  serious  consideration 
of  this  idea,  although  it  is  the  underlying  affect  of  all  social 
reform  ;  nay,  is  the  very  core  of  social  reform.  The  lure  of 
socialism  does  not  depend  upon  the  colourless  thesis  of  the 
nationalisation  of  capital,  but  on  the  manifest  aim  of  the 
socialists,  which  is,  no  matter  by  what  way,  to  abolish 
the  heaping  up  of  riches,  and  thus  to  improve  the  lot  of 
the  average  man.  It  became  necessary  to  envelop  this  core 
in  a  superfluous  theory  because  people  were  incompetent 
to  explain  away  apparent  contradictions,  both  moral  and 
economic.  If  it  remained  open  to  everyone  to  enrich  himself, 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      93 

if  most  people  could  strive  to  acquire  riches,  and  if  the 
acquirement  of  wealth  were  not  illegal,  it  could  not  but 
seem  dishonest  to  rob  the  successful  man  of  the  fruit  of  his 
labour.  Moreover,  it  seemed  preposterous  to  lay  one's 
weaknesses  bare  and  to  espouse  a  principle  which,  to  the 
ineradicable  bourgeois  prejudice  of  the  revolutionaries  them- 
selves, seemed  to  involve  the  encouragement  of  injustice, 
brigandage,  or  stupid  favouritism.  In  addition,  there  still 
prevailed  a  tacit  belief  that  wealth  was  indispensable  for 
the  storing  up  of  capital,  for  insurance  against  economic 
and  technical  risks,  for  the  launching  of  great  enterprises, 
for  financial  foresight.  Nothing  better  could  happen  to  this 
conception  than  to  be  merged  in  a  comprehensive  theory, 
wherein,  though  not  completely  dissolved,  it  at  least  became 
invisible.  Wealth  was  to  be  hard  hit,  and  therefore  capital 
was  to  be  nationalised,  a  procedure  which  would  indeed 
put  an  end  to  private  wealth.  It  was  supposed  that  this 
nationalisation  would  of  itself  enhance  the  value  of  labour, 
although,  as  we  have  seen,  it  has  no  bearing  on  the  matter. 
Unsolved  and  insoluble,  however,  remains  the  problem, 
how  the  community,  without  competition,  without  any 
other  driving  force,  without  any  standard  of  comparison, 
would  be  able  in  bureaucratic  fashion  to  find  a  substitute 
for  the  fundamental  principle  without  which  even  nature 
herself  has  never  been  able  to  perform  her  evolutionary 
tasks — the  principle  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  of  selection, 
of  delight  in  overcoming. 

The  doctrine  of  social  equality  will  solve  the  problem 
in  the  end,  when  it  is  recognised  that  we  must  achieve,  not 
merely  the  equalisation  of  possessions,  but  likewise  the 
limitation  of  individual  wealth.  We  must  clearly  distinguish 
between  the  three  effective  forms  of  property :  the  title  to 
enjoyment ;  the  title  to  power ;  and  the  title  to  responsi- 
bility. When  these  distinctions  have  been  made,  it  will  be 
possible  to  discover  economic  forms  which,  within  the 
bounds  of  the  traditional  ordering  of  property,  will  satisfy 
the  demands  of  freedom,  human  dignity,  and  justice,  and 
will  give  free  play  for  development. 

We  are  still  moving  within  the  domain  of  the  problem 
of  equalising  possessions,  and  we  discover  that  the  immediate 
demands  of  morality  overshadow  economic  considerations. 


94       IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

It  is  true  that  the  soul  makes  no  claim  to  temporal 
happiness,  power,  and  honours ;  it  demands  no  earthly 
justice.  It  awakens  in  the  bliss  of  sorrow  ;  it  lives  in  the 
solitude  of  renunciation  ;  and  ic  waxes  strong  in  the  happi- 
ness of  sacrifice.  Nevertheless,  justice  as  a  human  notion 
is  not  alien  to  the  soul.  What  would  charity  be  worth 
if  one  were  to  draw  the  inference  that,  to  one's  neighbour 
likewise,  privation  must  bring  more  happiness  than  abun- 
dance ?  What  would  justice  be  worth  if  one  were  to 
arrogate  the  privilege  of  strengthening  one's  fellow  man  by 
doing  him  an  injustice  ?  The  objective  significance  of  these 
virtues  is  that  they  counteract  evil,  that  they  lift  the  burden 
of  destiny  from  the  world,  that  they  sweep  together  the 
opposing  pike  points  and  concentrate  them  upon  one's 
own  breast ;  but  they  are  very  far  from  either  desiring  evil 
or  fostering  evil. 

Ere  long,  in  the  course  of  the  present  study,  when  we 
shall  have  to  examine  the  individual's  claim  to  his  share 
of  the  world's  goods,  we  shall  recognise  that  the  qualities 
which  promote  individual  ownership,  which  promote  that 
is  to  say  irresponsibly  pleasurable  ownership,  are  mediocre 
if  not  ignominious  qualities.  But  here  the  question  arises, 
what  title  any  man  can  have  to  lead  a  life  which  by 
usurpation  and  devastation,  by  isolation  and  exclusiveness, 
treads  into  the  dust  the  being  and  the  energy  of  countless 
thousands.  Ancient  customs  of  lordship,  extending  pro- 
tection and  demanding  privileges  in  exchange,  protection 
and  privileges  being  extended  to  wives  and  passing  to  off- 
spring by  hereditary  right,  constitute  the  only  traditional 
bases  for  a  sumptuous  mode  of  life.  A  symbolical  expression 
of  this  relationship  is  to  be  seen  in  the  parody  of  feudalist 
ceremonial  which  is  affected  by  members  of  the  new  pluto- 
cracy. They  have  new-bought  cannon  on  their  terraces, 
banners  in  their  anterooms,  powdered  menials  in  attendance 
on  their  landings,  spurious  ancestral  portraits  hanging  on 
the  walls ;  they  revive  obsolete  customs  for  the  dinner 
table,  for  receptions,  and  for  the  chase ;  they  make  a  great 
display  of  armour,  liveries,  loving-cups,  and  the  like. 

To-day,  no  one  but  the  state  can  promise  protection, 
nor  can  anyone  receive  protection  except  from  those  who 
are  commissioned  by  the  state  and  who  give  protection  in 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS       95 

its  name.  Law-courts,  town  councils,  princes  of  the  church, 
and  dynasts,  may  surround  themselves  with  pomp  and 
circumstance  to  pay  honour  to  the  past,  to  give  the  citizen 
an  occasional  pageant,  and  to  impress  the  multitude — 
tactfully  endeavouring  the  while  to  avoid  overstepping  the 
limits  which  separate  dignified  pageantry  from  mummery 
and  farce.  But  in  our  own  day,  as  was  ever  the  case  in 
earlier  days,  the  dignity  of  the  man  and  of  the  office  depends 
upon  responsibility.  Where  this  is  symbolised,  we  have 
true  splendour.  Customs  and  ceremonies  are  emblems 
which  shine  only  by  the  reflected  light  they  derive  from 
the  persistence  of  the  energies  they  typify.  If  these  energies 
are  extinct,  nothing  remains  beyond  the  withered  investiture 
of  formulas  and  labels. 

The  economic  superiority  of  the  bourgeois  class,  the 
superior  wellbeing  of  that  class,  is  not,  however,  based 
upon  any  institution.  Like  many  another  vigorous  reality, 
it  is,  genetically  considered,  an  accessory  phenomenon,  a 
manifestation  which  remains  innocuous  and  unregarded  so 
long  as  it  develops  within  moderate  limits  and  so  long  as 
it  does  not  assume  dimensions  which  give  it  an  operative 
influence  in  the  domain  of  public  life.  When  an  oriental 
patriarch  proved  a  successful  cattle  breeder,  and  was  able  to 
multiply  his  herds  a  hundredfold,  this  served  to  give  his  tribe 
an  admirable  stability,  and  his  wealth  remained  a  private 
matter  unless  the  expansion  became  so  great  as  to  lead  to 
disputes  for  drinking-places.  When  a  medieval  merchant 
was  successful  in  the  grocery  trade,  he  could  build  himself 
a  comfortable  dwelling,  could  secure  an  ample  provision  of 
furniture  and  household  linen,  and  could  store  up  silver  in 
his  coffers.  His  prosperity  had  no  bearing  on  public  life 
unless  it  contributed  to  the  establishment  of  class  privileges. 
Wealth  does  not  become  a  socially  transformative  power 
until,  through  the  pressure  of  population,  the  collective 
organisation  of  economic  life  produces  a  flawless  system 
of  mutual  dependence.  Isolated  instances  of  this  pheno- 
menon occurred  already  in  the  later  phases  of  Roman 
history ;  but  in  its  full  development,  and  uncomplicated 
in  form,  the  manifestation  dates  only  from  the  opening 
of  the  mechanised  epoch,  that  epoch  which  is  somewhat 
narrow-mindedly  termed  the  capitalistic  era.  From  the 


96      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

economic  outlook,  all  over  the  civilised  world,  we  live  to-day 
under  the  dominion  of  a  mighty  plutocracy,  which  in  some 
of  the  states  has  gained  control  of  the  totality  of  the 
political  forces,  has  acquired  the  mastery  of  law  and 
constitution,  of  peace  and  war ;  whilst  in  other  states  the 
plutocracy  wields  political  influence  in  conjunction  only 
with  powers  whose  rights  date  from  an  earlier  age,  but 
none  the  less  the  plutocrats  exercise  undisputed  sway  over 
labour. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  ignore  the  important  services  that 
have  been  performed  by  plutocracy  as  a  world  power.  The 
plutocracy  has  carried  the  movement  of  mechanisation  to 
its  term  ;  within  a  few  generations,  it  has  immeasurably 
enriched  the  civilised  world  ;  it  has  provided  the  various 
states  with  mighty  means  of  defence,  and  thereby,  counter- 
acting its  own  essential  nature,  it  has  strengthened  nation- 
alism. At  least  during  its  ascending  phase,  the  plutocracy, 
animated  by  a  broadly  tolerant  spirit,  enrolled  in  its  ranks 
the  vigorous  intelligences  from  among  the  nations,  enforcing 
upon  them  and  upon  the  collective  soul  of  the  peoples  the 
mechanistic,  rationalistic,  and  venturesome  type  of  thought. 
Concomitantly  repressing  patriarchal,  feudah'stic,  and  nar- 
rowly corporative  outlooks,  the  plutocracy  has  created  a 
new  and  potent  spiritual  atmosphere — though  one  no  less 
circumscribed  than  the  old.  It  has  contributed  to  the 
reorganisation  of  world  politics  on  an  economic  basis,  and 
unwittingly  it  has  promoted  the  growth  of  such  formidable 
antagonisms  that  its  own  existence  has  been  positively 
threatened  by  a  series  of  national  catastrophes.  These 
developments  of  plutocracy  will  be  considered  more  fully 
when  we  come  to  discuss  political  issues.  Here  we  are 
concerned  with  a  higher  problem,  the  problem  of  morals, 
a  problem  which  has  to  be  solved  with  the  aid  of  definite 
principles. 

Plutocracy  is  group  dominion ;  it  is  oligarchy,  and  the 
worst  form  of  oligarchy,  for  it  is  not  associated  with  any 
ideal  outlook,  with  any  sacrament.  The  ancient  theocracies 
of  the  east  derived  their  rights  from  the  godhead,  and  lost 
these  rights  through  degenerating  into  priestly  corporations. 
The  Greek  aristocracies  appealed  for  their  justification  to 
the  titles  to  lordship  devolving  upon  the  sons  of  the  gods. 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS       97 

The  nobilities  belonging  to  the  conquering  races  maintained 
their  sway  over  the  subject  indigens  in  virtue  of  the  hereditary 
cultivation  of  regal  sentiments  and  physical  beauty,  until 
the  distinction  between  invaders  and  invaded  was  lost 
through  the  intermingling  of  the  racial  stocks.  The  farmer 
patriciate  of  the  Romans  maintained  its  dominance  in 
virtue  of  its  exclusive  possession  of  the  idea  of  the  state, 
and  in  virtue  of  its  pre-eminence  in  war  ;  it  was  replaced 
by  a  neutral  and  uninspired  official  patriciate  ;  thereafter, 
came  mingling  of  the  races  and  the  fall  of  the  Roman  power. 
The  medieval  church,  when  it  accepted  the  mission  of 
carrying  the  banner  of  the  faith  into  a  heathen  world,  became 
an  organisatory  oligarchy.  After  the  conversion  of  Europe 
had  been  completed,  the  evangelist  mission  gave  place  to 
political  aims,  and  the  sometime  missionary  church  entered 
the  path  which  led  it  from  the  position  of  a  world  power  to 
that  of  a  politically  accredited  international  organisation. 
European  feudalism  was  based  on  the  ideal  concept  of  the 
loyalty  of  vassals,  in  conjunction  with  responsibility  towards 
the  subjected  primal  inhabitants  of  the  countries,  and  in 
conjunction  at  a  later  date  with  the  duty  of  faith. 
Christianity  became  a  communal  possession  ;  the  diverse 
strains  of  population  underwent  amalgamation  ;  feudalism 
was  replaced  by  territorial  dominion,  and  in  part  by 
democracy ;  the  rule  of  the  nobles  could  be  maintained  only 
where  the  ideal  concepts  of  loyalty  to  the  monarch,  of  martial 
duty,  and  of  agricultural  patriarchy,  still  persisted — notably 
in  the  Slavo-Teutonic  north  and  east. 

Plutocracy,  on  the  other  hand,  did  not  use  its  influence 
through  ideals,  but  through  common  interests.  The  pluto- 
crats did  not  rise  to  power  as  members  of  a  conquering 
stock  or  as  adherents  of  a  common  creed.  They  appeared 
in  isolation,  each  individual  emerging  from  among  the 
lower  strata  of  the  nations  through  the  economic  selection 
of  exceptional  talent,  through  chance,  or  through  the 
fortunate  acceptance  of  risk.  All  that  the  plutocracy 
desires  is  to  maintain  itself,  and  to  promote  its  own 
enrichment ;  it  has  no  community  of  outlook  with  any 
other  group,  nor  is  it  pledged  to  any  other ;  its  strength 
lies  in  opportunism.  It  augments  through  inheritance,  and, 
whenever  necessary  (since  it  is  wide  awake  to  its  own 

7 


98      IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

interests),  through  cooptation  ;  the  partiality  of  the  father 
is  tempered  by  the  wisdom  of  the  partner.  As  far  as 
spiritual  powers  are  concerned,  the  plutocracy  inherits  in 
the  first  place  culture  ;  in  addition  it  hands  down  from 
generation  to  generation  a  certain  degree  of  economic  insight 
and  training  in  enterprise,  which  are  enhanced  by  the  influ- 
ence of  the  environment  upon  the  younger  members  of  the 
plutocracy  and  by  family  tradition.  Nevertheless,  such 
influences  have  no  permanent  effect  without  the  persistent 
infusion  of  fresh  blood,  for  the  customs  of  luxurious  life  and 
the  effects  of  intellectual  narrowness,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  imitation  of  aristocratic  practices,  on  the  other,  leads 
to  the  exclusion  generation  after  generation  of  those  who 
in  part  are  enervated,  and  who  in  part,  as  the  expression 
runs,  ruin  themselves. 

The  occasional  acceptance  of  new  elements  and  the 
occasional  exclusion  of  elements  belonging  to  the  primitive 
plutocratic  stock,  do  not  deprive  the  plutocratic  caste  of 
its  peculiarities  as  a  circumscribed  unity.  Every  oligarchy 
is  subject  to  a  moderate  degree  of  change,  to  the  withdrawal 
of  some  of  its  elements  and  to  the  introduction  of  certain 
new  elements.  The  movement  here  considered  remains 
without  influence,  seeing  that  the  increase  takes  place  under 
a  very  rigid  selection.  Moreover,  since  an  identical  outlook 
on  life  is  inexorably  demanded  from  new  recruits,  recruitment 
takes  place  only  from  classes  closely  associated  with  the 
plutocracy,  and  never  from  the  people  at  large.  The  more 
stable  hereditary  elements  predominate  in  determining  the 
character  of  the  plutocracy ;  through  an  imitation  of 
feudalistic  ways,  they  may  even  transform  and  petrify  the 
plutocracy  into  the  caricature  of  a  monetary  nobility. 

As  long  as  human  imperfection  accentuates  gradations 
in  capacity,  temperament,  and  spiritual  force,  until  the 
production  of  extreme  contrasts  results,  so  long  also  every 
social  order  will  exhibit  like  contrasts  in  the  stratification 
of  its  responsibilities,  needs,  and  claims.  In  whatever  way 
this  stratification  may  manifest  itself  in  respect  of  form  and 
arrangement,  there  will  always  be  a  demonstrable  likeness 
to  oligarchic  structure.  It  will  depend  upon  differences  of 
ethical  outlook  whether  this  order  be  actively  willed  or 
whether  it  be  passively  endured.  It  will  depend  upon 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS      99 

differences  in  ethical  outlook  whether  the  contrasts  be 
increased  and  perpetuated  by  closing  the  entry  into  the 
privileged  caste,  by  increasing  the  number  and  extent  of 
its  privileges,  and  by  consolidating  the  oligarchy  through 
the  right  of  inheritance  ;  or  whether  scope  be  given  for  a 
movement  towards  equalisation,  for  the  limitation  of  the 
inequality  of  privileges,  so  that  an  opportunity  for  ascent 
will  be  offered  to  every  human  soul.  Then  evolution  will 
approximate  to  that  neutral  territory  where  the  concept 
of  aristocracy  is  at  one  and  the  same  time  fulfilled  and 
annulled.  For  then,  the  strongest  and  noblest  natures, 
whatever  their  origin  and  type,  will  bear  responsibility  for 
their  brothers.  Then,  the  topmost  stratum,  though  it 
remain  circumscribed  in  its  nature,  will  exhibit  unceasing 
modification  in  respect  of  its  substance.  Then,  the  name 
"  the  rule  of  the  best  "  will  be  justified  and  our  conception 
of  aristocracy  as  the  dominance  of  a  caste  will  be  confuted. 

So  ideal  a  consummation  is  not  precisely  the  one  which 
is  contemplated  by  those  persons  of  aesthetic  temperament 
who,  their  minds  filled  with  thoughts  of  Athens  and  Venice, 
suggest  as  a  final  aim  the  consolidation  of  a  cultured  and 
high-principled  hereditary  stratum.  Unless  we  play  with 
words,  unless  our  terms  are  without  definite  meaning, 
hereditary  oligarchy  is  incompatible  with  the  dignity  and 
freedom  of  human  rights  ;  it  can  never  be  the  ethical  aim 
of  any  thinker  who  accepts  the  doctrine  of  the  advance  of 
all  souls  alike. 

A  plutocratic  oligarchy  certainly  does  not  belong  to 
the  nebulous  region  of  neutral  concepts  ;  its  establishment 
is  altogether  inadequate  as  a  moral  aim.  Even  though  we 
accept  the  inequality  of  natural  rights,  even  though 
(differing  herein  from  the  socialists)  we  consider  the 
civilisation  of  the  world  to  be  based  upon  the  multiplicity 
of  needs,  upon  the  refinement  indispensable  to  a  spiritualised 
existence,  upon  the  multicoloured  complexity  which  is 
promoted  by  an  artistic  inclination  towards  joy  for  oneself 
and  others,  nevertheless  we  cannot  approve  the  free  play 
of  forces  which  upbuilds  hereditary  plutocracy  upon  the 
foundations  laid  by  our  economic  order — upbuilds  it,  in  a 
sense,  as  an  undesigned  and  unavowed  accessory.  Mankind 
was  not  born  to  be  subjugated  in  accordance  with  a  pre- 


100    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

determined  fate,  to  have  the  neck  bowed  beneath  the  yoke 
of  the  chance  forces  which  result  from  the  unfettered  working 
of  economic  influences.  The  apportionment  of  property 
is  no  more  a  private  matter  than  is  the  right  to  consumption. 
We  should  err  were  we  to  adopt  the  cast-iron  precepts  of 
socialism,  were  we  to  destroy  the  thousand-year-old  edifice 
of  organically  interconnected  labour,  simply  in  order  to 
replace  competition  by  bureaucracy,  and  civic  freedom  by 
a  title  to  ampler  food-rations  and  by  a  more  effective  relief 
of  indigence.  But  once  again  and  as  a  final  aim  we  see 
ourselves  guided  towards  a  reform  which  shall  upbuild  a 
new  realm  of  social  freedom  upon  the  foundations  of  the 
claim  to  a  just  share  in  articles  of  consumption,  of  a  more 
equitable  distribution  of  property,  and  of  a  more  vigorous 
prosperity  for  the  state. 

An  interpolation,  which  will  close  the  circle  of  what 
has  gone  before,  inasmuch  as  it  will  resolve  the  last  contra- 
diction between  prelude  and  sequel,  may  pave  the  way  to 
the  subsequent  empirical  considerations. 

As  we  have  seen,  superfluous  consumption  reaches  a 
minimum  aggregate  in  the  theoretically  extreme  case  in 
which  all  property  is  concentrated  into  the  hands  of  a  single 
individual.  Is  there  any  danger,  should  property  be  equally 
distributed  at  a  fairly  high  level  of  prosperity,  that  con- 
sumption would  increase  to  such  an  extent  that  the  necessary 
reserves  for  the  expansion  and  renovation  of  the  world's 
industry  might  not  be  adequately  provided  ? 

The  danger  is  not  very  serious.  Indubitably  there  would 
be  an  increase  in  the  average  consumption  of  such  com- 
modities as  contribute  to  the  maintenance  and  to  the 
enrichment  of  life ;  but  experience  has  shown  that  this 
expenditure  will  be  adequately  compensated  by  improvements 
in  the  amount  and  quality  of  work.  Expenditure  upon  the 
more  costly  forms  of  luxury  will  be  reduced,  even  though 
the  community  have  acquired  the  right  to  manifest  much 
pomp  and  circumstance  in  public  life.  Any  individual  who 
has  an  itch  for  occasional  display,  will  redress  the  balance 
by  curtailing  his  daily  disbursements  in  other  directions. 
Some  risk  would  remain  that  there  might  be  a  general 
dissipation  of  means  upon  needless  futilities  and  foolish 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     101 

finery.  The  power  of  the  economic  conscience,  whose 
awakening  will  be  simultaneously  cause  and  effect  of  the 
new  era,  and  whereof  we  shall  have  to  treat  when  we  come 
to  discuss  economic  ethics,  will  implant  in  the  minds  of  a 
moralised  humanity  an  immeasurable  contempt  for  the 
toys  which  delight  the  men  and  women  of  our  own  day  ; 
it  will  leave  to  savage  and  semi-savage  peoples  all  the  lumber, 
the  gauds,  the  fustian,  the  novelties,  the  whimsicalities, 
the  fashionable  absurdities,  the  worthless  things  that  are 
dignified  with  hideous  names.  Thus  will  be  saved  for 
communal  uses  the  labour  which  is  now  wasted  for  the 
gratification  of  stupidity  and  bad  taste.  A  second  and  new 
minimum  of  superfluous  consumption  will  be  established 
upon  a  natural  and  moral  basis,  in  the  economic  order 
wherein  possessions  will  be  equalised.  This  train  of  reasoning 
shows  very  clearly  that  the  existing  economic  system,  with 
its  contrasts  and  its  plutocracy,  deserves  condemnation  on 
the  additional  ground  that  it  misdirects  consumption. 

Here  we  reach  the  domain  of  practice.  But  before  we 
turn  to  consider  the  upbuilding  of  the  new  order,  it  behoves 
us  to  examine  the  prevalent  claim  to  preferential  treatment 
which  is  made  by  the  individual  to-day  for  his  own  immediate 
purposes  as  contrasted  with  communalised  possessions  and 
communal  consumption.  When  we  consider  who  raises 
such  a  claim  to  wealth  and  property,  when  we  consider 
with  what  moral  right  he  demands  guarantees  from  society 
and  the  state,  and  what  protection  the  community  has 
been  able  to  provide  against  excessive  exactions  and  injustice, 
we  shall  then  be  able  to  survey  with  a  clearer  vision  the 
economic  and  moral  foundations  of  a  freer  and  juster  order. 

Who  is  wealthy,  and  with  what  right  ?  Who  is  entitled 
to  say  :  Out  of  the  joint  possessions  and  produce  of  the 
world,  there  is  due  to  me  ten  times,  a  hundred  times,  ten 
thousand  times  as  much  as  the  average  man  may  own  and 
consume  ?  Whence  does  personal  wealth  come  ?  How  is 
it  acquired  ? 

We  need  not  here  concern  ourselves  with  the  origins  of 
property.  Let  it  suffice  us  to  know  that  it  was  handed 
down  to  its  present  holders  by  inheritance.  Subsequently 
we  shall  have  to  examine  this  concept  of  transmission. 


102     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

But  first  of  all  we  are  concerned  with  the  accumulations 
that  now  actually  exist. 

Is  wealth  savings  ?  In  view  of  the  brevity  of  human 
life,  a  moderate  competence  is  the  utmost  that  can  be  saved 
out  of  the  regular  income  from  labour.  The  incomings 
which  can  be  heaped  up  to  form  riches  are  not  the  rewards 
of  labour  ;  they  are  winnings  of  other  categories.  Erroneous 
is  the  popular  notion  that  anyone  can  grow  wealthy  simply 
in  virtue  of  thrift. 

Possible,  though  rare,  is  enrichment  by  treasure  trove. 
Digging  for  treasure  is  no  longer  profitable  in  our  days, 
unless  for  the  accumulation  of  knowledge.  The  unearthing 
of  Old  Masters  in  curio  shops  serves  mainly  to  enrich 
sensational  journalists.  Nevertheless,  the  discovery  of  mineral 
wealth  has  made  many  fortunes  in  Africa,  in  Canada,  and 
even  in  Germany. 

Generally  speaking,  if  wealth  is  to  accumulate  in  the 
hands  of  a  few,  thousands  must  be  induced  to  surrender  a 
part  of  their  possessions,  and  they  will  not  do  this  unless 
some  urgent  want  can  be  satisfied  in  return  for  the  sacrifice 
they  are  making.  Such  an  urgent  want,  be  it  reasonable 
or  be  it  unreasonable,  is  known  as  an  effective  economic 
demand.  Anyone  who  desires  to  become  wealthy,  must 
satisfy  a  widespread  economic  demand.  But  this  alone 
does  not  suffice,  for  competition  plays  its  part.  Competitors 
appear  to  satisfy  a  portion  of  the  demand,  and  to  secure 
a  share  in  the  profits  derived  from  its  satisfaction.  In  the 
end,  the  entrepreneur  finds  that,  instead  of  the  anticipated 
wealth,  he  earns  no  more  than  average  profits,  receives 
merely  the  average  return  for  his  trouble. 

The  acquisition  of  wealth,  therefore,  is  only  possible 
when  the  entrepreneur  can  restrict  competition,  can  raise 
the  profits  at  pleasure,  or  can  indefinitely  extend  the  circle 
of  those  who  are  willing  to  make  the  requisite  sacrifice. 
Nothing  but  a  recognised  or  an  enforced  monopoly  will  put 
him  in  such  a  position. 

A  successful  inventor  can  secure  a  monopoly  by  taking 
out  a  patent,  or  by  a  secret  process  of  manufacture.  Anyone 
who  infringes  his  patent,  or  anyone  who  endeavours  to 
discover  his  secret  by  bribing  his  workmen,  will  be  punished. 

The    mining    of    certain    minerals    furnishes    a    natural 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     103 

monopoly,  provided  that  the  mineral  deposits  are  few  and 
far  between. 

Another  form  of  monopoly  is  that  which  is  secured  by 
the  great  banking  combines,  by  department  stores,  and  by 
multiple  shops.  Those  who  desire  success  in  these  fields 
must  have  great  means  at  their  disposal ;  they  must  spend 
years  in  the  overthrow  of  rival  organisations  by  a  system 
of  price-cutting  ;  and  few  are  inclined  to  risk  their  capital 
in  such  undertakings. 

Chemical  industries  are  based  on  the  monopoly  of  position. 
In  many  instances,  there  is  but  one  optimum  site  for  the 
industry,  some  one  point  at  the  most  favourable  distance 
from  the  raw  materials,  the  source  of  energy,  the  labour 
power,  and  the  market. 

The  great  tenor  has  the  monopoly  of  rarity  in  his  larynx. 
Opera  houses  are  commoner  than  fine  tenor  voices. 

Trusts  and  syndicates  enforce  a  monopoly  by  bringing 
the  entirety  of  some  particular  field  of  industry  under  a 
single  control,  and  by  thus  excluding  competition. 

The  receiver  of  ground  rents  enjoys  the  monopoly  of 
urban  sites  ;  certain  individuals  find  themselves  compelled 
to  reside  in  particular  areas  ;  certain  kinds  of  business,  certain 
industries,  thrive  only  in  particular  quarters  of  the  town  ; 
demand  goes  on  growing,  whereas  the  supply  of  suitable 
land  is  inexorably  restricted. 

The  fashionable  emporium  enjoys  the  monopoly  of  a 
well-known  name,  for  many  persons  are  quite  unhappy 
when  wearing  a  hat  or  carrying  an  umbrella  which  does  not 
bear  the  stamp  of  their  favourite  firm. 

The  owner  of  a  railway,  a  waterworks,  or  a  dock,  receives 
his  monopoly  rights  from  the  state  or  the  municipality ; 
he  exercises  a  privilege  which  is  tantamount  to  territorial 
suzerainty. 

These  and  many  other  monopolies  enrich  their  holders, 
and  there  is  no  other  way  to  wealth.  For  in  the  long  run, 
as  we  may  learn  apriori  from  the  calculus  of  probabilities, 
the  yields  of  hazard  and  speculation  are  equalised.  Occasion- 
ally, through  withdrawal  from  the  game  in  a  fortunate 
hour,  or  through  death,  the  winner  may  secure  his  spoils ; 
but  these  instances  are  too  rare  to  affect  the  truth  of  the 
general  statement. 


104    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

If,  without  prejudice,  we  question  our  consciences 
concerning  the  ethical  status  of  monopoly,  we  cannot  but 
feel  that  in  its  enforced  exactions,  its  arbitrary  standards, 
and  its  assignment  of  uncontrolled  power  to  the  individual, 
monopoly  is  essentially  immoral. 

Where  we  have  to  do  with  monopoly  of  pre-eminence 
and  of  superior  technique,  the  immorality  is  less  conspicuous. 
Especially  is  this  true  when  the  monopoly  is  not  exercised 
by  an  individual  but  by  a  collectivity,  for  here  the  advantages 
of  the  services  rendered  are  recognisable,  and  despite  the 
privilege  of  monopoly  there  may  be  a  balance  of  gain  to 
the  community  derivable  from  the  centralisation  of  enterprise. 

Monopoly  appears  increasingly  intolerable  in  proportion 
as  it  is  acquired  with  the  minimum  of  desert,  in  proportion 
as  it  is  exercised  with  the  minimum  of  trouble  to  the 
monopolist,  and  in  proportion  as  it  is  enforced  with  the 
maximum  of  extortion.  Consequently,  the  monopoly  of 
the  urban  landowner  is  one  of  the  most  unedifying. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  obvious  that  it  would  be  a  very 
simple  matter  for  legislation  to  regulate  all  the  sources  of 
individual  wealth,  and  if  necessary  to  take  them  out  of 
individual  hands.  This  is  a  practical  question,  and  its 
consideration  must  be  reserved  until  the  theoretical  economic 
discussion  is  finished.  For  the  nonce  we  must  concern 
ourselves  with  the  second  and  decisive  aspect  of  the  title 
to  wealth. 

No  more  than  a  small  proportion  of  contemporary  private 
wealth  has  been  acquired  by  its  possessors.  To  an  enormously 
preponderant  extent,  property  is  inherited. 

Although  when  we  contemplate  acquired  wealth,  and 
when  we  have  disclosed  the  sources  of  its  acquisition,  an 
inward  monitor  arouses  in  us  a  sense  of  injustice  done,  no 
such  sentiment  of  injustice  is  commonly  aroused  by  the 
phenomenon  of  the  inheritance  of  wealth.  To  the  modern 
conscience,  the  transmission  of  property  by  inheritance 
seems  to  be  based  upon  inviolable  right.  The  recogni- 
tion of  this  fact  necessitates  a  further  interpolation ;  a 
methodical  discussion  of  this  particular  issue. 

All  social  and  political  progress  is  the  outcome  of  the 
struggle  between  tradition  and  innovation.  More  than  any 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     105 

previous  age  in  history,  our  own  epoch  inclines  to  emphasise 
this  contrast,  with  the  manifest  (though  unconscious)  aim 
of  siding  with  the  party  of  tradition — as  always  happens  in 
uncreative  eras. 

Nevertheless,  the  contrast,  the  opposition,  depends 
solely  on  the  point  of  view  ;  it  has  no  absolute  validity. 
The  revolutionist  of  to-day  will  to-morrow  be  regarded  as 
the  saint  hallowed  by  tradition  ;  the  reactionary  of  to-day 
is  yesterday's  revolutionist.  Those  who  contrast  the  tradi- 
tional, as  a  sort  of  organic  adult  produced  by  the  play  of 
natural  forces,  with  the  innovational  as  something  arbitrarily 
and  dogmatically  originated,  as  something  nowise  based 
upon  experience  or  upon  justified  specialism,  fall  into 
confusion.  They  confuse  the  qualities  of  the  evolutionary 
contrasts  with  the  qualities  of  the  individuals  in  whom 
these  contrasts  are  embodied.  They  confuse  the  species 
of  the  traditionalists  with  the  species  of  the  traditional, 
and  they  confuse  the  species  of  the  innovators  with  the 
species  of  the  innovational. 

Innovation,  when  it  becomes  actual,  is  just  as  organic, 
has  just  as  definitely  grown  out  of  the  nature  of  men  and 
things,  as  tradition  is  organic,  and  as  tradition  has  thus 
grown.  Ere  long  the  innovation,  too,  will  become  an 
established  custom,  a  tradition,  a  venerable  legacy,  or  a 
vestigial  relic.  On  the  other  hand,  the  individual  who  has 
a  peculiar  fondness  for  the  traditional,  is  a  very  different 
kind  of  person  from  the  individual  who  reveals  and  creates 
the  innovational.  The  former  leans  upon  experience,  upon 
loving  contemplation  of  the  extant,  and  often  enough  upon 
favourite  privileges  and  prejudices ;  the  latter  relies  upon 
the  force  of  need,  upon  the  seer's  vision,  upon  ideals,  and 
at  times  likewise  upon  personal  dissatisfaction  and  individual 
wishes.  The  virtues  of  the  one  are  loyalty  and  rationality ; 
the  virtues  of  the  other  are  creative  energy  and  intuition. 
The  dangers  of  the  one  are  narrowness  and  inertia ;  the 
dangers  of  the  other  are  dogmatism  and  instability. 

Almost  every  innovation  entails  these  dangers  to  some 
extent.  It  appears  at  the  outset  to  be  dogmatic,  to  be 
rationalistically  inconsiderate,  to  lack  sufficient  understanding 
for  justified  specialism.  Soon,  however,  the  rough  angles 
are  worn  down  by  usage,  the  crude  colours  acquire  a  softer 


106     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

tone,  the  tool  adapts  itself  to  the  hand.  A  wonder,  as 
the  orientals  phrase  it,  never  lasts  longer  than  three  days. 

A  well-grounded  abhorrence  of  widespread  suffering  and 
atrocities,  in  conjunction  with  the  ingrained  tendency  of 
the  Slave-Teutons  towards  an  easy-going  conservatism,  leads 
our  historians  astray,  inclining  them  to  regard  every  sudden 
innovation  as  reprehensible  revolution.  With  good  grounds 
do  we  feel  unsympathetic  towards  the  great  French  revolution. 
Nevertheless,  during  the  tumultuous  nights  of  that  stormy 
epoch,  the  fundamental  principles  of  local  autonomy,  of 
popular  education,  of  the  citizen  army,  came  into  being 
through  the  very  force  of  ideas.  Our  German  political 
sentiment  is  monarchical,  and  herein  we  discern  one  of 
its  few  strong  points.  We  are  passionately  inclined  to 
eradicate  all  republican  endeavours  as  high  treason.  It  is 
just  as  well,  none  the  less,  that  we  retain  sufficient  objectivity 
to  avoid  looking  upon  every  Swiss  as  a  descendant  of 
regicides  and  impious  nihilists,  and  to  refrain  from  persecuting 
as  a  jacobin  any  German  who  may  choose  to  settle  in 
Basle. 

From  the  wide  perspectives  of  history,  therefore,  the 
subjective  contrast  between  the  traditional  and  the  inno- 
vational  assumes  the  aspect  of  a  retarding  influence,  comes 
to  seem  a  physical  influence  making  for  inertia.  In  the 
play  of  the  forces  that  mould  universal  history,  to  tradition- 
alism is  assigned  the  task  of  steadying  the  whole  movement, 
of  preventing  the  chariot  from  overturning,  of  limiting 
arbitrary  experiments.  But  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that 
this  force  is  a  negative  one.  In  semblance,  conservatism  is 
an  affirmation  of  the  extant ;  in  reality,  however,  it  is  a 
negation  of  life  and  life's  growth. 

In  a  study  which  is  devoted  to  the  consideration  of 
days  to  come,  an  adjustment  between  these  two  processes 
must  be  continually  renewed.  Even  from  the  negative  trend 
we  have  to  learn,  for  it  imposes  on  us  the  question,  What 
criterion  distinguishes  between  the  concept  of  Utopian 
fantasy,  and  the  concept  of  an  innovation  which,  however 
fundamental,  has  its  place  in  the  organic  series  ? 

The  pragmatic  test  will  not  here  suffice  to  guide  our 
decision,  for  even  the  imperfect,  even  the  absurd,  can  for 
a  time  make  headway  in  practice.  The  only  thing  that 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     107 

wil]  help  us  to  a  decision  is  the  strength  and  unity  of  the 
general  historical  outlook.  If  a  contradiction  arise  between 
the  world  outlook  and  some  acquired  phase  of  feeling 
dependent  on  individual  outlooks,  the  latter  must  give  way. 
The  universal  outlook,  however,  is  determined,  not  by  the 
judgment  seats  of  the  generations,  but  by  the  areopagus 
of  the  ages. 

From  this  matter  we  return  to  consider  the  dominant 
feeling  with  regard  to  inheritance,  and  we  are  entitled  to 
attack  it  fiercely. 

In  contradistinction  to  enrichment  by  monopoly  and 
speculation,  which  arouses  an  affect  of  repugnance,  to  the 
general  sentiment  enrichment  by  inheritance  does  not  seem 
intrinsically  objectionable. 

The  racecourses  and  other  pleasure  resorts  of  a  large 
city  are  packed  with  well-clothed  and  complacent  young 
men,  who  in  a  single  hour  lavish  more  money  upon  a  horse 
or  a  dancer  than  a  poor  student,  a  poet,  or  a  musician  requires 
for  a  year's  support ;  their  demands  upon  the  productions 
of  their  country  exceed  the  expenditure  of  a  prime  minister. 
The  return  they  make  takes  the  form  of  personal  enjoyment 
and  lavish  display.  According  as  mood  and  interest  may 
dictate,  everyone  who  encounters  them  shows  them  politeness, 
respect,  or  subservience,  and  they  respond,  now  courteously, 
now  condescendingly.  Wherever  they  go,  they  take  it  as 
a  matter  of  course  that  a  young  man  of  letters  or  a  merchant 
shall  yield  them  precedence.  In  popular  estimation,  though 
their  presumption  may  sometimes  grate,  and  though  their 
idleness  is  regarded  as  regrettable,  their  privileged  situation 
seems  quite  inevitable,  the  expression  of  a  sacred  tradition 
of  hereditary  pomp  and  power. 

A  young  woman  who  has  married  an  old  man  for  his 
money,  and  who  is  speedily  widowed,  may  be  censured  if 
she  apes  a  princess  in  her  expenditure.  But  though  tongues 
wag  concerning  her  lowly  origin,  no  one  disputes  her  right 
to  squander  the  income  of  a  principality,  for  she  can  do 
what  she  likes  with  her  heritage. 

Some  great  industrial  undertaking  is  bequeathed  to  an 
incompetent  man  of  full  legal  age.  The  managers  of  the 
affair  make  him  submissive  reports,  endeavour  to  adapt 
themselves  to  his  whims,  beg  for  increased  salaries  and 


108     IN        DAYS        TO         COME 

wider  powers.  Grey-headed  business  men  crowd  round  the 
young  potentate's  carriage  door. 

A  well-to-do  man  dies,  leaving  a  wife  and  four  children. 
All  five  of  them  determine  to  live  on  their  incomes.  The 
children  marry  men  and  women  in  a  similar  position.  The 
state  is  enriched  with  four  family  stocks  which  throughout 
a  century  will  do  no  creative  work  of  any  kind,  though 
perhaps  an  occasional  scion  may  study  the  history  of  art 
or  may  adopt  a  diplomatic  career. 

In  a  civilised  country  how  many  healthy  men  under 
sixty  will  be  found  living  upon  private  means  ?  How  many 
young  men  found  their  existence  on  a  wealthy  marriage  ? 

How  many  unproductive  families  must  a  country  support 
from  generation  to  generation  ? 

But  as  far  as  the  public  conscience  is  concerned,  such 
phenomena  by  no  means  arouse  a  feeling  of  injustice.  They 
may  sometimes  be  regarded  as  undesirable,  but  strangely 
enough  no  one  looks  upon  them  as  immoral. 

Let  us  put  aside  the  question  of  expenditure  upon  the 
higher  purposes  of  civilisation  The  vital  demands  of  the 
unproductive  elements,  if  shared  out  among  the  productive 
elements,  would  render  the  performance  of  higher  cultural 
tasks  possible.  The  labour  power  of  the  unproductives, 
if  placed  at  the  service  of  society,  would  create  new  spiritual 
and  economic  values. 

The  moral  concept  of  inheritance  has  been  hallowed  by 
the  practice  of  centuries.  Consequently  the  world  has  failed 
to  realise  that  here  the  Substitution  of  the  Content  has  long 
since  been  effected,  and  that  the  suppositions  upon  which 
the  right  of  inheritance  was  originally  based  are  no  longer 
valid. 

In  primitive  times,  equipment  of  all  kinds  was  just  as 
likely  to  be  interred  with  the  deceased  owner  as  to  be  handed 
down  by  inheritance.  Such  articles  were  parts  of  the  outfit 
of  the  individual  and  his  dwelling  ;  outliving  the  generations, 
they  became  attributes  of  the  collective  individual,  of  the 
family.  The  same  may  have  applied  to  flocks  and  herds, 
whose  generations  grew  parallel  with  those  of  their  human 
owners.  It  was  the  same  with  tilled  land  and  agricultural 
implements,  as  soon  as  individual  tillage  had  given  place 
to  family  cultivation  on  permanently  settled  areas. 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     109 

Power,  prestige,  the  right  to  bear  arms,  and  other 
privileges,  were  inherited  in  accordance  with  the  basis  of 
national  stratification.  The  subject  stock,  deprived  of  all 
rights  to  nobility,  was  entitled  neither  to  self-government 
nor  to  self-determination  ;  protection  against  enemies  from 
without,  and  patrician  authority  within  the  community, 
could  be  preserved  only  by  inheritance.  Priestly  conse- 
cration, kingship,  caste  privileges,  were  all  included  in  this 
hereditary  transmission. 

The  capitalistic  era  grew  unnoted  out  of  the  era  of 
hereditary  feudalism.  By  the  force  of  tradition,  without 
intelligent  consideration  of  the  question,  and  in  the  absence 
of  any  analogous  instances,  the  privileges  of  inheritance 
accrued  to  capitalism  as  indestructible  characteristics.  The 
essential  reasons  for  inheritance  had  vanished.  Whereas 
hereditary  nobility  entailed  duties  as  well  as  conferring 
rights,  whereas  it  demanded  and  guaranteed  protection  and 
service  from  generation  to  generation,  heritable  wealth 
carried  with  it  nothing  but  rights,  conferred  nothing  but 
power  and  enjoyment,  for  which  no  return  was  demanded. 

The  political  community  of  the  Romans  was  the  first 
to  encounter  all  unawares  the  stupendous  paradox  that  a 
dead  man  should  appear  upon  the  scene  as  the  possessor  of 
a  live  will,  as  the  arbitrary  wielder  of  power,  land,  business 
interests,  and  the  right  to  enjoyment.  Rome  dealt  with 
this  paradoxical  situation  with  the  brilliant  casuistry  of  her 
legal  system,  until  at  length  the  questionable  foundation  was 
hidden  away  beneath  an  edifice  which  was,  if  not  organic, 
at  least  quasi-organic.  To  this  very  day,  in  every  civilised 
country,  the  state  devotes  all  its  power  and  prestige  to 
guaranteeing  the  rights  of  the  dead  against  the  living,  to 
insuring  that  everyone  of  the  dead  man's  legally  permissible 
whims  shall  be  fulfilled,  that  an  unknown  distant  relative 
shall  share  in  the  inheritance,  that  the  heir  who  is  protected 
by  tradition  and  specified  by  nomination  shall  lose  no  tittle 
of  all  the  vast  store  of  treasures  and  privileges,  however 
ill-gotten.  Should  any  one  man  succeed  to-day  in  getting 
into  his  own  hands  the  last  acre  of  land,  together  with  all 
the  works  of  art  and  all  the  writings  in  his  country,  and 
should  he  leave  nothing  for  the  state  beyond  a  few  roads 
and  public  offices,  this  same  state,  so  long  as  certain  formulas 


110     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

were  fulfilled  and  certain  taxes  paid,  would  use  all  the  forces 
at  its  disposal  to  hand  down  the  complex  of  powers 
undiminished  to  the  universal  inheritor,  though  he  were  a 
man  of  evil  repute.  The  state  would  give  this  heir  the 
right  to  enclose  what  areas  he  pleased,  and  to  throw  them 
out  of  cultivation  ;  to  ruin  beautiful  landscapes  ;  to  bring 
useful  enterprises  to  a  standstill ;  to  spread  unemployment ; 
to  destroy  monuments — unless  indeed  the  state  should 
determine  to  pass  exceptional  laws  assailing  the  paradox 
of  inheritance. 

These  considerations  should  suffice  to  convince  us  that 
among  those  goods  of  humanity  which  are  inviolable  and 
beyond  criticism,  the  moral  concept  of  the  inheritance  of 
wealth  and  power  can  find  no  place.  Custom  may  have 
made  it  acceptable  to  us,  but  it  is  nowise  sacrosanct.  It  is 
nothing  more  than  a  dominant  ethnological  peculiarity 
which  has  been  uncritically  accepted.  Its  foundations  have 
crumbled,  and  its  consequences  lead  us  to  an  antinomy. 

Yet  the  whole  nature  of  our  social  stratification,  the 
entire  inalterable  and  dull  fixity  of  the  distribution  of 
national  forces,  reposes  upon  this  moral  concept.  The 
living  ascent  and  descent  of  life  which  dominates  nature, 
the  organic  interchange  of  serving  and  determinative 
members,  the  bountiful  play  of  the  golden  urns,  is  benumbed 
by  the  dead  hand  of  past  generations.  This  is  what  con- 
demns the  proletarian  to  perpetual  servitude,  and  the  rich 
man  to  perpetual  enjoyment.  It  binds  the  burden  of 
responsibility  upon  the  weary  who  would  fain  repudiate  it, 
and  chokes  the  creative  impulse  of  the  functionless,  some 
of  whom  long  for  responsibility.  The  impermeable  oily 
stratum  of  tradition  separates  the  two  solutions  which  are 
eager  with  elective  affinity,  which  strive  vainly  to  mingle; 
and  it  increases  the  tension  of  an  unutilised  will. 

The  beginnings  of  a  new  moral  consciousness  are 
perceptible.  There  exists  a  corner  of  our  mind  which  is 
no  longer  content  to  tolerate  without  cnticism  the  claims 
to  the  material  goods  of  the  world  which  are  based  upon 
the  free  play  of  forces  in  the  hallowed  neutral  spheres  of 
business  affairs  and  of  commercial  law.  The  claim  of  the 
wealthy  legatee,  of  the  man  who  earns  nothing  for  himself 
but  insistently  demands  his  traditional  rights,  is  being 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     111 

assimilated  in  our  minds  with   the   claims  of  speculators 
and  monopolists,  claims  universally  regarded  as  immoral. 

We  have  traversed  the  economic  domain  of  consumption, 
ownership,  and  claim  ;  and  we  are  now  in  a  position  to 
formulate  as  principles  the  valuations  at  which  we  have 
arrived. 

1.  The  total  yield  of    human  labour  is  always  limited. 
Consumption,  like  all  economic  activities,  is  not  an  individual 
affair  but  a  communal  affair.     All  consumption  is  a  charge 
upon  the  world's  work  and  the  world's  produce.     Luxury  and 
exclusive  appropriation  are  subject  to  the  communal  will, 
and  can  only  be  tolerated  in  so  far  as  they  do  not  prevent 
the  satisfaction  of  any  immediate  and  genuine  want. 

2.  The  equalisation  of  property  and  income  is  prescribed 
both  by  ethics  and  by  economics.     Immeasurable  wealth  is 
permissible  in  the  state  for  one  only,  namely,  for  the  state 
itself.     From  the  means  at  its  disposal  the  state  must  relieve 
poverty  wherever  it  arises.     Certain  differences  in  income 
and  property  are  permissible,   but  they  must  not  be  so 
extensive  as  to  produce  a  one-sided  distribution  of  power 
and  the  right  to  enjoyment. 

3.  The  extant  sources  of  wealth  are :  monopolies  in  the 
widest  sense;  speculation;  and  inheritance.     There  will  be 
no  place  in  the  coming  economic  order  for  the  monopolist, 
the  speculator,  or  the  inheritor  of  great  wealth. 

4.  The  restriction  of  the  right  of  inheritance,  in  con- 
junction with  the  equalisation  of  popular  education  at  a 
higher  level,  will  throw  down  the  barriers  which  now  separate 
the  economic  classes  of  society,  and  will  put  an  end  to  the 
hereditary  enslavement  of  the  lower  classes.     The  restriction 
of  luxury  will  contribute  to  the  same  end,  for  through  the 
restriction  of  superfluous  consumption  the  world's  work  will 
be  concentrated  upon  the  production  of  necessary  goods, 
and  the  cost  of  these  goods  as  measured  in  the  yield  of  labour 
will  be  reduced. 

The  system  of  economy  and  social  freedom  must  be 
based  upon  these  principles. 

The  nature  of  the  legislative  enactments  by  means  of 
which  this  system  will  be  carried  into  effect,  is  a  matter  of 
minor  importance.  A  study  of  the  legislative  institutions 


112     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

of  the  various  states  discloses  the  ambiguity  of  all  practical 
solutions.  The  forms  of  life  have  far  closer  resemblances 
than  have  the  legislative  systems  by  which  these  forms 
are  regulated  ;  the  goals  are  similar,  the  results  are  similar, 
and  only  the  ordinances  are  different.  The  decisive  point 
is  that  goals,  that  ideal  outlooks,  should  be  altered  ;  changes 
in  institutions  will  follow,  and  further  changes  will  ensue 
in  the  multiplicity  of  practical  issues. 

It  is  of  immeasurably  greater  significance  that  the  coming 
transformation  is  preceded  by  changes  in  sentiments  and 
ethical  values.  As  a  matter  of  historical  experience,  this  has 
always  happened  when  new  horizons  have  opened.  The 
sentiments  wait  for  this  impulsion.  Upon  their  own  initia- 
tive, while  they  have  the  power,  they  lack  the  inclination, 
to  get  out  of  the  old  ruts.  Although  the  goals  of  desire 
may  have  become  obsolete,  this  does  not  of  itself  suffice 
to  transform  the  sentiments  effectively,  but  merely  to  make 
them  uncertain  and  discouraged. 

This  discouragement  has  preceded  all  the  great  trans- 
formations of  history.  We  feel  it  to-day  so  strongly  because 
it  is  associated  with  the  unconscious  stirrings  of  an  uneasy 
conscience.  That  is  why  the  war  was  espoused  with  so 
much  genuine  passion,  with  a  passion  whose  roots  struck 
deeper  than  those  either  of  political  or  of  national  life. 
People  hoped  that  the  war  would  give  a  new  trend  to  their 
sentiments  and  would  furnish  a  new  meaning  to  life. 
Nevertheless,  whatever  the  effect  of  its  cleansing  fires,  the 
war  cannot  do  these  things,  seeing  that  it  did  not  arise  out 
of  social  and  fundamentally  human  needs,  but  out  of 
national  conflicts.  Nationalism  constitutes  no  more  than 
the  surface  of  the  collective  sensibility  and  the  collective 
consciousness.  The  core  of  these  is  transcendental,  and 
finds  expression  in  the  ethics  of  social  life.  The  war  will 
shatter  many  an  outworn  value,  but  only  in  so  far  as  the 
outwardly  operative  will  of  the  people  is  involved ;  the 
fundamental  popular  consciousness  will  be  no  more  pro- 
foundly affected  than  to  the  degree  with  which  it  is  associated 
with  this  will.  Should  the  outward  will  become  the  very 
centre  of  life,  the  road  is  shortened  ;  the  war  becomes  an 
end  in  itself  ;  peace  is  a  weary  and  idle  dream.  War  without 
passion  and  hatred  is  nothing  but  inhuman  slaughter  ;  but 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     113 

hatred  and  passion  can  never  be  ultimate  aims,  since  the 
soul  fulfils  itself  in  love. 

The  transformation  of  sentiment  will  be  considered  in 
the  next  section.  At  this  stage  we  must  undertake  a  brief 
study  of  the  casuistry  of  institutions. 

i.  The  most  obvious  method  for  regulating  consumption 
is  a  widely  extended  system  of  taxes  upon  luxury  and 
immoderate  consumption.  In  certain  spheres  these  taxes 
may  have  to  be  practically  prohibitive. 

The  purposes  of  such  a  system  must  not  be  fiscal.  The 
revenues  derived  from  the  taxation  of  luxury  are  accessory. 
The  primary,  the  exclusive  object  of  taxation  is  to  restrict 
consumption. 

The  Tariff  must  be  higher  in  proportion  to  the  degree 
to  which  the  imported  or  locally  manufactured  product  is 
superfluous  and  costly.  We  must  never  forget  that  every 
import  is  paid  for  by  an  export.  In  exchange  for  a  string 
of  pearls,  we  must  send  abroad  the  total  yield  of  the  labour 
of  five  German  working-class  families  during  a  period  of 
ten  years. 

Tobacco  and  spirits,  costly  textiles,  furs,  plumage, 
precious  stones,  and,  above  all,  manufactured  articles  of 
luxury,  must  be  heavily  taxed,  to  the  extent  of  several 
times  their  original  cost  of  production.  Since  the  super- 
vision of  the  import  of  jewelry  is  a  difficult  matter,  jewelry 
should  be  subject  to  a  heavy  annual  taxation  in  addition 
to  an  import  duty. 

In  certain  parts  of  Germany,  the  average  daily  con- 
sumption of  beer  by  each  male  adult  amounts  to  more  than 
five  pints.  The  national  expenditure  upon  spirituous  liquors 
and  upon  tobacco  is  reckoned  in  milliards  of  marks.  Enor- 
mous taxes  must  be  imposed  upon  these  particular  luxuries, 
regardless  of  the  interests  of  the  brewers,  publicans, 
manufacturers  and  retailers — to  whom  abundant  com- 
pensation can  be  paid.  Taxes  on  production  are  to  be 
levied  in  the  case  of  all  articles  of  luxury  and  fashion,  upon 
all  knicknacks  and  gewgaws  produced  in  the  homeland, 
except  those  destined  for  export. 

The  occupation  of  space  must  be  taxed.  Large  private 
parks,  extravagant  dwelling-places,  stables,  coachhouses, 

8 


114     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

and  garages  must  pay  their  quota  of  taxation.  Steeply 
graduated  taxation  must  be  imposed  upon  domestic  service. 
Horses,  carriages,  and  motors,  in  so  far  as  these  are  used 
for  purposes  of  luxury ;  excessive  expenditure  upon  illu- 
mination ;  costly  furniture  ;  rank  and  title — all  should  be 
the  objects  of  taxation,  not  as  a  source  of  revenue  to  the 
state,  but  in  order  to  restrict  consumption  in  these  directions. 

2.  The  familiar  institutions  of  death  duties  and  income 
tax  will  serve  to  promote  the  equalisation  of  property. 
Not,  however,  as  of  old  will  these  be  regarded  as  an  ultimate 
resource  for  the  levying  of  national  revenue,  imposed  with 
fear  and  trembling  and  paid  with  reluctance.  Such  taxes 
will  imply  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  beyond  what  is 
necessary  for  the  ordinary  amenities  of  civilised  life,  the 
one  who  acquires  means  becomes  only  the  conditional  owner 
of  that  which  he  acquires,  while  the  state  is  fully  entitled 
to  relieve  him  of  any  or  all  of  the  surplus.  Those  who  have 
studied  the  development  of  the  so-called  mixed-economic 
[gemischtwirtschaftliche]  undertakings,  which  in  the  case 
of  certain  lucrative  enterprises  of  a  monopolistic  character 
have  already  given  expression  to  the  view  that  the  state 
is  entitled  to  claim  by  far  the  largest  proportion  of  all  profit 
over  and  above  a  very  moderate  return,  will  find  nothing 
unnatural  in  the  proposal  that  in  the  case  of  all  superabundant 
income  and  property  the  state  has  a  claim  to  anything 
beyond  a  necessary  minimum. 

The  objection  that  the  well-to-do  will  be  supplied  with 
a  strong  motive  for  emigration,  is  invalid.  For  such 
institutions  will  only  develop  to  the  extent  in  which  they 
are  regarded  as  justifiable  and  necessary ;  by  slow  degrees, 
only,  will  they  reach  their  terminal  form.  Now  such  a 
recognition  will  not  be  confined  to  a  single  nation.  On 
the  contrary,  the  demonstration  that  the  country  which 
leads  the  way  in  such  matters  gains  enormously  in  strength, 
will  not  merely  quicken  the  pace  of  progress  in  other  lands, 
but,  further,  will  bind  more  firmly  to  their  homeland  those 
wealthy  persons  who  see  the  happy  results  of  the  sacrifices 
they  are  called  upon  to  make.  When  we  come  to  consider 
the  transformation  of  moral  ideas,  this  perception  will 
appear  to  us  in  a  new  light. 

Yet  more  short-sighted  is  the  objection  that  the  proposed 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     115 

new  regime  will  supply  a  motive  for  extravagance.  If 
anyone  is  subject  to  that  strange  and  inscrutable  itch  for 
accumulation  which  is  so  dominant  in  our  epoch  and  which 
forms  one  of  the  most  powerful  driving  forces  of  contemporary 
economic  life,  he  will  not  be  cured  of  his  passion  because 
it  has  become  difficult  to  gratify  it.  Beyond  question, 
poverty  never  turned  a  miser  into  a  spendthrift.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  anyone  lacks  inclination  to  hoard,  if  anyone 
is  prone  to  spend  freely,  he  will  be  no  more  thrifty  upon 
a  large  income  than  upon  a  small. 

A  third  objection  will  for  the  moment  be  merely  stated  ; 
at  a  later  stage  it  will  receive  the  close  attention  it  deserves. 
What  substitute  will  be  found  for  the  spirit  of  enterprise 
which  to-day  is  exclusively  sustained  by  private  accumula- 
tions of  capital  ?  Even  the  wealthiest  state  will  not  be 
able  to  offer  the  means  and  inducements  held  out  alluringly 
in  a  regime  of  free  competition  to  those  who,  in  a  sanguine 
spirit  of  discovery,  would  fain  make  their  way  towards  new 
goals. 

3.  The  struggle  against  private  and  personal  monopolies 
is  a  tendency  which  needs  no  more  than  general  and  open 
recognition  to  ensure  that  in  every  individual  case  it  will 
secure  its  legislative  or  practical  embodiment.  Unavowedly, 
and  in  part  despite  opposition,  the  energies  which  animate 
this  tendency  have  been  accumulating,  so  that  nothing 
more  is  now  needed  than  to  pull  the  trigger.  Already, 
patents,  concessions,  the  right  to  use  natural  forces,  are 
granted  only  for  limited  periods ;  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer  has  his  eye  on  the  exploiters  of  rare  mineral 
treasures,  and  upon  the  unearned  increment  in  land  values. 
For  the  management  of  public  industries,  forms  have  been 
discovered  which  leave  scope  for  the  spirit  of  enterprise 
without  acceding  to  all  the  claims  of  the  covetous  entre- 
preneur. The  more  notable  types  of  monopoly,  those  due 
to  superior  organisation  and  predominant  capital,  have 
heretofore  almost  escaped  attack.  It  is  difficult  to  eradicate 
them  systematically,  for  the  centralisation  they  promote 
stimulates  and  strengthens  economic  life.  Nevertheless, 
forms  are  discoverable,  and  will  be  discussed  in  the  immediate 
sequel,  which  are  beneficial  to  the  community  without 
allowing  the  individual  to  grow  immoderately  rich. 


116    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

In  connection  with  monopolies  and  the  means  for 
counteracting  them,  it  is  necessary  to  refer  to  an  unprincipled 
occupation  which,  though  it  does  not  invariably  lead  to 
great  wealth  for  those  who  follow  it,  does  in  the  totality 
of  its  action  lead  to  the  withdrawal  of  vast  sums  from  the 
community,  and  tends  to  place  these  sums  at  the  disposal 
of  persons  whose  claim  to  property  conflicts  with  their 
qualities  and  functions  as  human  beings.  I  am  not  thinking 
of  any  of  the  old  and  serviceable  varieties  of  trade  or  agency 
business,  but  of  extensive  speculations  which  aim  at  deriving 
profit  from  some  special  opportunity,  the  work  of  middlemen 
in  the  foundation  of  companies  and  the  supply  of  funds 
for  industrial  and  other  enterprises,  speculations  in  patents 
and  real  estate,  secret  transactions  in  loan  and  exchange 
business.  The  only  remedy  here  is  the  imposition  of 
permanent  stamp  duties  and  other  special  taxation  upon 
accidental  profits,  trade  licences,  company  registrations,  and 
audits. 

In  the  same  connection,  allusion  must  be  made  to  a 
form  of  activity  which,  though  perfectly  honourable  and 
well-intentioned,  is  based  upon  such  obsolete  presuppositions 
that  it  does  far  more  harm  to  the  economic  life  of  the 
community  than  any  form  of  swindling  enterprise  has  done 
since  the  rise  of  the  capitalist  system,  inasmuch  as  it  leads 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  who  might  be  engaged  in 
active  production  to  devote  themselves  to  occupations  which 
could  be  efficiently  performed  by  a  few  thousands. 

Any  haberdasher  will  tell  you  that  many  times  a  year 
the  travellers  from  the  wholesale  dealer  call,  that  these 
travellers  spend  hours  in  showing  novelties,  and  endeavouring 
to  secure  an  order  for  this  article  or  that.  Every  traveller 
must  make  a  special  journey  to  effect  three  or  four  such 
visits,  which  he  will  attempt  to  conceal  from  his  rivals  ; 
these  visits  increase  the  cost  of  the  goods,  and  use  up  his 
working  powers  for  a  day.  Millions  of  working  days  are 
wasted  year  after  year  in  so-called  business  journeys,  which 
could  be  saved  if  the  wholesalers  would  jointly  maintain  a 
sample  store  in  every  large  provincial  town,  a  place  which 
could  be  visited  three  or  four  times  a  year  by  every  retailer 
in  the  neighbourhood.  Heavy  taxation  of  all  businesses 
which  exist  solely  on  account  of  the  lack  of  organisatory 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     117 

capacity,  and  which  lead  to  the  squandering  of  the  national 
energies  upon  useless  journeyings,  would  force  retail  trade 
to  reform  its  methods,  and  would  increase  the  productive 
energies  of  the  nation  by  hundreds  of  millions. 

While  there  continue  to  exist  products  whose  price  is 
enhanced  twenty-five  per  cent,  fifty  per  cent,  or  sometimes 
even  a  hundred  per  cent,  on  the  way  from  the  producer  to 
the  consumer,  the  commercial  system  is  cryingly  in  need 
of  reform.  It  should  not  be  our  primary  object  here  to 
save  the  consumer's  pocket,  nor  is  the  enrichment  of  the 
middleman  the  thing  we  have  most  to  dread.  The  main 
troubles  are  the  superfluous  carriage  of  goods  to  and  fro, 
the  immoderate  multiplication  of  shops,  the  excessive  number 
of  middlemen  and  profit  takers  at  various  points  on  the  road 
by  which  the  goods  pass  to  their  destination.  Worst  of  all 
is  the  exaggerated  regard  for  the  convenience  of  the  purchaser, 
who  thinks  it  is  too  long  a  walk  to  the  nearest  street  corner  ; 
who  demands  seven  shops  in  a  district  where  one  could 
supply  all  needs  ;  who  does  not  settle  his  accounts  until 
after  much  dunning,  and  who  sometimes  evades  payment 
altogether.  The  friction  thus  attendant  upon  trade  involves 
an  enormous  expenditure  of  national  labour  and  capital. 
It  could  easily  be  avoided,  with  consequent  diversion  of 
energies  to  production.  The  nation  and  the  legislature 
must  not  look  on  with  indifference  when  in  every  great 
town  the  powers  of  an  army  corps  are  wasted  in  providing 
for  the  distribution  of  tobacco,  writing  paper,  and  soap. 

4.  All  inheritance  over  and  above  a  moderate  amount  of 
landed  property  should  accrue  to  the  state.  The  upper 
limit  of  heritable  real  estate  will  be  standardised  by  the 
economic  reform  of  agriculture  which,  according  to  the 
present  state  of  our  knowledge,  cannot  be  enduringly  and 
successfully  conducted  except  upon  a  system  of  hereditary 
private  ownership.  On  the  other  hand,  all  the  arguments 
that  are  commonly  adduced  in  favour  of  the  maintenance 
of  great  landed  estates,  are  either  fallacious,  or  have  at 
best  a  purely  transient  validity,  seeing  that  every  economic, 
technical,  and  capitalistic  advantage  attaching  to  large- 
scale  agriculture  can  be  secured  by  cooperative  farming. 
A  gradual  transition  to  state  ownership  can  be  secured  by 
means  of  taxation,  heavily  graduated  in  inverse  ratio  to  the 


118     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

nearness  of  kinship  and  in  direct  ratio  to  the  value  of  the 
estate.  It  is  essential  that  the  scandal  of  the  inheritance  of 
landed  property  outside  the  limits  of  close  family  relationship 
should  be  abolished  as  soon  as  possible. 

Exemption  from  the  claims  of  the  state  is  to  some  extent 
permissible  in  the  case  of  bequests  for  benevolent  purposes, 
in  the  case  of  certain  charitable  foundations.  To  this  matter 
we  shall  return.  Within  limits,  even  family  settlements 
may  be  tolerated,  in  so  far  as  they  subserve  educational, 
ethical,  and  cultural  purposes.  The  great  works  and  monu- 
ments of  nature,  art,  and  history,  should  not  be  transmissible 
by  inheritance. 

Throughout  the  domain  of  moral  and  social  relationships, 
the  effects  of  such  measures  will  be  greater  than  those  of  any 
other  revolution  known  to  modern  history.  External  life 
will  be  contemplated  from  a  new  outlook  In  addition  to 
his  relationship  to  his  class,  the  individual  will  acquire  a 
more  intimate  relationship  towards  the  community  to  which 
he  belongs.  The  detached  existence  of  the  average  man  will 
come  to  seem  unmeaning  ;  now  civic  life  will  be  regarded 
as  substantial  only  in  so  far  as  it  serves  and  is  fully 
functional ;  whereas  it  will  be  looked  upon  as  shadowy  in 
so  far  as  it  is  functionless.  The  contemptible  life  of  luxurv 
will  come  to  an  end,  and  therewith  will  end  hereditary 
enslavement  to  caste  feelings ;  people's  sentiments  will 
broaden  out  to  become  national.  The  lordship  of  vain, 
grasping,  and  evil  natures  will  grow  rare  ;  function  and 
respect  will  become  more  closely  approximated.  Education 
will  acquire  new  forms  and  renewed  efficiency  ;  what  pro- 
vided before  no  more  than  a  light  equipment,  will  now 
furnish  adequate  weapons  and  armour  for  life's  battles.  The 
need  for  studying  and  favouring  every  possible  aptitude 
will  grow  irrefutable  ;  the  community  will  be  enriched  by 
a  perpetual  harvest  of  intellectual  energies,  such  as  has 
never  before  been  displayed  except  during  the  great  epochs 
of  revolutionary  transformation.  Women  will  be  recalled 
to  that  sense  of  motherly  dignity  and  domestic  responsibility 
which  they  have  lost  in  a  self-seeking  life  of  ladylike  ease, 
amid  futilities,  or  under  the  burden  of  everyday  cares. 
To  all  men  of  good  will,  a  horizon  and  a  possibility  of  progress 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     119 

will  open  ;    no  one  will  be  despised  and  rejected  ;    none  but 
detractors  will  be  ostracised. 

A  last  contradiction  remains  to  be  explained. 

If  we  contemplate  the  extant  functioning  of  large-scale 
private  property,  looking  at  the  matter  in  a  purely  mechanical 
way,  and  leaving  the  ethico-social  implications  of  the  problem 
unconsidered,  we  see  that  such  property  performs  a  duty 
which,  however  uncongenial  it  appears  in  its  essential  nature, 
is  nevertheless  of  great  importance  from  the  economic 
outlook.  Private  property  shoulders  the  risk  of  the  world 
economy. 

All  the  enterprises  of  the  capitalist  system  share  common 
characteristics  ;  they  all  require  large  means,  and  they  are 
all  risky.  The  revenue  department  of  any  properly  organ- 
ised community  can  supply  the  requisite  means.  Much  more 
difficult,  however,  is  it  for  a  municipality  or  a  state  to  engage 
in  bold  ventures.  These  corporations  lack  the  passionate 
stimulus  of  private  enterprise  ;  the  sense  of  responsibility 
renders  them  timid  ;  they  are  devoid  of  that  autocratic 
and  instinctive  judgment  which  makes  the  prospects  of 
success  outweigh  the  possibilities  of  danger.  Onlookers 
are  apt  to  imagine  that  specialised  skill  can  provide  a 
substitute  for  the  aforesaid  incisive  powers  of  judgment, 
but  the  desiderated  substitute  will  not  prove  effective  when 
the  risks  of  great  enterprises  are  under  consideration  ;  the 
experts  will  differ  among  themselves,  and  by  the  time  they 
have  settled  their  differences,  the  favourable  opportunity 
will  have  been  lost. 

Private  capital  secures  ample  funds  by  the  joint-stock 
method ;  it  encounters  the  risks  of  enterprise  by  inde- 
fatigable endeavours  towards  success  and  profit ;  it  over- 
comes the  uncertainties  of  the  future  by  exercising  the 
greatest  possible  care  in  the  choice  of  its  agents,  and  by  the 
number  and  variety  of  its  enterprises. 

Hitherto  this  demand  could  be  met  only  by  means  of 
the  surplus  capital  which,  accumulating  in  the  hands  of 
the  well-to-do  after  these  had  consumed  all  they  considered 
requisite  for  daily  life,  clamoured  for  reinvestment  and 
increase.  The  smaller  savings  were  satisfied  with  increased 
security  and  less  risk. 


120    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

The  question  now  arises,  What  new  capitalistic  forms 
will  replace  private  enterprise  when  the  superfluities  of 
individual  wealth  have  disappeared  owing  to  the  diffusion 
of  a  general  and  equalised  wellbeing  ? 

If  we  are  to  answer  this  question,  we  must  anticipate 
in  one  point  what  we  shall  have  to  say  when  we  come  to 
discuss  the  moral  problems  of  economic  life.  We  must 
refer  in  this  place  to  the  progressive  suppression  of 
covetousness  by  the  sense  of  responsibility. 

If  we  survey  a  number  of  typical  enterprises,  disregarding 
their  historical  antecedents  and  concerning  ourselves  solely 
with  the  extant  (for  the  Substitution  of  the  Content  has 
universally  been  in  operation),  we  arrive  at  the  following 
results : 

Almost  without  exception  these  enterprises  assume  the 
impersonal  form  of  the  joint-stock  company.  No  one  is 
a  permanent  owner.  The  composition  of  the  thousandfold 
complex  which  functions  as  lord  of  the  undertaking,  is  in 
a  state  of  perpetual  flux.  The  original  arrangement,  in 
accordance  with  which  a  number  of  well-to-do  merchants 
combined  for  the  joint  conduct  of  some  business  which 
was  too  extensive  for  any  one  of  them  to  undertake  single- 
handed,  has  become  a  matter  of  purely  historical  interest. 
Almost  fortuitously,  one  person  or  another  acquires  one  or 
several  shares  in  an  enterprise  ;  he  may  hold  on  for  a  dividend 
or  for  a  rise  in  values  ;  in  many  cases  he  has  bought  merely 
to  sell  again  as  soon  as  possible.  The  fact  that  he  has 
become  a  shareholder  in  a  limited  company  hardly  enters 
into  his  consciousness  In  a  great  many  instances,  all  that 
he  has  done  is  to  bet  upon  the  prosperity  of  some  branch 
of  business  enterprise,  and  the  scrip  which  he  holds  is  merely 
the  symbol  of  this  bet. 

The  investor,  however,  is  likewise  the  possessor  of  other 
stock  and  scrip,  perhaps  in  a  great  many  different  enterprises  ; 
he  is  the  point  of  intersection  of  various  rights  of  ownership, 
and  in  each  case  the  ownership  is  a  fluctuating  complex.  In 
many  cases  he  knows  nothing  more  of  these  enterprises 
than  the  name  ;  he  may  have  been  personally  advised  to 
invest  in  them  ;  he  may  have  been  attracted  by  a  newspaper 
article  ;  he  may  have  followed  a  popular  craze  in  favour  of 
some  particular  investment. 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     121 

The  relationship  we  have  been  describing  signifies  that 
ownership  has  been  de-individualised.  The  primitive  personal 
relationship  between  a  man  and  a  tangible,  accurately 
known  affair,  has  given  place  to  an  impersonal  claim  upon 
a  theoretical  yield. 

The  de-individualisation  of  ownership  simultaneously 
implies  the  objectification  of  the  thing  owned.  The  claims 
to  ownership  are  subdivided  in  such  a  fashion,  and  are  so 
mobile,  that  the  enterprise  assumes  an  independent  life, 
as  if  it  belonged  to  no  one  ;  it  takes  on  an  objective  existence, 
such  as  in  earlier  days  was  embodied  only  in  state  and 
church,  in  a  municipal  corporation,  in  the  life  of  a  guild  or 
a  religious  order. 

In  the  vital  activity  of  the  undertaking,  this  relation- 
ship manifests  itself  as  a  shifting  of  the  centre  of  gravity. 
The  executive  instruments  of  an  official  hierarchy  become 
the  new  centre.  The  community  of  owners  still  retains  the 
sovereign  right  of  decision,  but  this  right  grows  increasingly 
theoretical,  inasmuch  as  a  multiplicity  of  other  collective 
organisms  (especially  banks)  are  entrusted  by  the  share- 
holders with  the  maintenance  of  their  rights,  and  inasmuch 
as  these  fiduciaries  in  their  turn  work  hand  in  hand  with 
the  directors  of  the  enterprise. 

To-day,  already,  the  paradox  is  conceivable  that  the 
enterprise  might  come  to  own  itself  inasmuch  as  with  the 
profits  it  could  buy  out  the  individual  shareholders.  German 
law  imposes  restrictions  upon  such  a  process,  insisting  that 
the  original  shareholders  must  retain  their  voting  rights. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  no  organic  contradiction  to  the 
complete  detachment  of  ownership  from  the  owner. 

The  de-individualisation  of  ownership,  the  objectification 
of  enterprise,  the  detachment  of  property  from  the  possessor, 
leads  to  a  point  where  the  enterprise  becomes  transformed 
as  it  were  into  a  trusteeship,  or  perhaps  it  would  be  better 
to  say  into  an  institution  resembling  the  state.  This 
condition,  which  I  shall  denote  by  the  term  "  autonomy," 
can  be  reached  by  many  routes.  One  of  these,  the  repayment 
of  capital,  has  previously  been  mentioned.  A  second  method, 
the  distribution  of  ownership  among  the  employees  and 
officials  of  the  undertaking,  has  been  followed  somewhat 
closely  by  one  of  our  German  manufacturers.  The  right  of 


122    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

ownership  can  be  vested  in  official  positions,  universities, 
town  councils,  governments ;  this  has  happened  in  the 
case  of  one  of  the  oldest  mining  corporations  in  Germany. 
Nothing  more  is  requisite  than  that  there  should  be  adequate 
and  practical  stipulations,  which  provide  that  the  enterprise 
shall  be  permanently  conducted  by  the  best  discoverable 
instruments. 

If  its  constitution  be  wisely  drafted,  the  enterprise  will 
be  able  to  provide  for  all  future  requirements  of  capital, 
however  extensive  these  may  become.  Its  first  resource 
will  be  to  lay  hands  upon  the  revenues  which  hitherto  from 
year  to  year  it  has  distributed  to  the  shareholders.  Next, 
transiently  or  permanently,  it  can  issue  debentures.  In 
case  of  need,  it  can  retreat  a  step,  and  can  issue  new  shares. 
Above  all,  if  under  the  protection  of  a  state  whose  wealth 
is  inexhaustible,  and  if  subjected  to  the  control  of  this  state, 
it  has  a  right  to  expect  that  in  case  of  need  the  state  will 
provide  it  with  funds  in  return  for  sufficient  guarantees. 
Nay  more,  the  state  itself  will  wish  and  demand  that  autono- 
mous enterprises  shall  be  willing  at  any  time,  under  proper 
supervision,  to  take  over  and  to  invest  surpluses  from  the 
state  treasury. 

The  counterpart  of  the  objective  tendency  towards 
autonomy  is  the  subjective  psychological  evolution  of  the 
enterprise  and  its  organs. 

In  so  far  as  wealthy  private  entrepreneurs  still  exist, 
they  have  long  been  accustomed  to  regard  their  businesses 
as  independent  entities,  incorporated  objectively  as  com- 
panies. Such  an  entity  has  its  own  personal  responsibility  ; 
it  works,  grows,  makes  contracts  and  alliances  on  its  own 
account ;  it  is  nourished  by  its  own  profits ;  it  lives  for  its 
own  purposes.  The  fact  that  it  nourishes  the  proprietor 
may  be  purely  accessory,  and  in  most  cases  is  not  the  main 
point.  A  good  man  of  business  will  incline  to  restrict  unduly 
his  own  and  his  family's  consumption,  in  order  to  provide 
more  abundant  means  for  the  strengthening  and  extension 
of  the  firm.  The  growth  and  the  power  of  this  organism  is 
a  delight  to  the  owner,  a  far  greater  delight  than  lucre. 
The  desire  for  gain  is  overshadowed  by  ambition  and  by 
the  Joys  of  creation. 

Such  an   outlook  is   accentuated   among  the   chiefs  of 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     123 

great  corporate  undertakings.  Here  we  already  encounter 
an  official  idealism  identical  with  that  which  prevails  in  the 
state  service.  The  executive  instruments  labour  for  the 
benefit  of  times  when,  in  all  human  probability,  they  will 
long  have  ceased  to  be  associated  with  the  enterprise.  Almost 
without  exception,  they  do  their  utmost  to  reserve  for  the 
undertaking  the  larger  moiety  of  its  profits,  and  to  distribute 
no  more  than  the  lesser  moiety  in  the  form  of  dividends, 
although  to  the  detriment  of  their  individual  incomes.  They 
try  to  preserve  for  their  successors  the  yield  of  the  period 
during  which  they  have  been  the  administrators.  A  leading 
official  in  such  an  enterprise,  if  offered  the  choice  between 
having  his  salary  doubled  and  becoming  one  of  the  directors, 
will  prefer  responsibility  to  wealth.  The  power,  the  arche- 
typal reality,  of  the  institution  has  become  an  end  in  itself. 
Covetousness,  as  the  motive  force,  has  been  completely 
superseded  by  the  sense  of  responsibility. 

Thus  the  psyche  of  the  enterprise  works  towards  the 
same  end  as  the  evolution  of  the  possessional  relationships. 
Both  culminate  in  the  production  of  autonomy. 

In  ultimate  analysis,  the  economic  meaning  of  the  whole 
movement  grows  clear.  It  is  no  longer  the  wealthy  capitalist's 
desire  for  gain  which  shapes  the  enterprise.  The  undertaking 
itself,  now  grown  into  an  objective  personality,  maintains 
itself,  creates  its  own  means  just  as  much  as  it  creates  its 
own  tasks.  It  is  ready  to  provide  these  means  out  of  its 
own  profits,  by  the  temporary  issue  of  debentures,  out  of 
state  loans,  out  of  foundations,  out  of  the  savings  of  its 
staff  and  its  workmen — or  in  any  way  that  may  be 
possible. 

Thus,  between  the  domain  of  state  organisations  and  the 
domain  of  private  businesses,  there  arises  a  domain  of  inter- 
mediate structures.  In  this  we  find  autonomous  enterprises, 
arising  out  of  and  conducted  by  private  initiative,  subjected 
to  state  supervision,  and  leading  an  independent  life. 
Essentially,  they  are  transitional  varieties  between  private 
economy  and  state  economy.  Presumably,  in  future  cen- 
turies, this  objective  and  de-individualised  ownership  will 
become  the  leading  mode  of  existence  for  all  permanent 
property.  In  contrast  therewith,  property  in  articles  of 
consumption  will  remain  private,  whilst  property  in  goods 


124     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

of  communal  utility  will  continue  to  be  vested  in  the  state. 
Industrial  monopolies  will  be  conducted  under  the  form  of 
mixed-economic  enterprises. 

The  laws  of  property  must  take  into  account  the  character- 
istics of  autonomous  undertakings,  no  less  than  the  character- 
istics of  foundations,  which  will  likewise  prove  of  increasing 
importance  in  days  to  come.  Both  kinds  of  institution 
should  be  authorised  to  accept  legacies,  in  so  far  at  least 
as  their  aims  meet  with  public  approval.  Thus  the  creator 
of  an  economic  organism  will  be  empowered  to  give  expression 
to  his  ideal  will,  to  the  will  permanently  incorporated  in 
his  work,  without  transmitting  property  rights  and  revenues 
to  idle  generations.  The  economic  will  thus  secures  enduring 
existence  in  so  far  as  it  works  productively,  whereas  it  is 
mortal  in  so  far  as  it  strives  for  the  accumulation  of  material 
goods.  The  foundation,  grown  objective,  and  detached 
from  the  individual  life,  becomes  the  true  monument  of  an 
outwardly-working  existence.  It  acquires  an  analogy  with 
the  ideal  creation  of  a  work  of  art,  an  analogy  which  is 
manifest  in  respect  of  absolute  existence  if  not  in  respect 
of  spiritual  content. 

The  fact  that  Germany,  where  there  is  so  great  a  love 
for  the  essential  and  the  ideal,  is  so  much  poorer  than  the 
United  States  or  even  Greece  in  foundations  which  do  not 
subserve  narrow  family  ambitions,  shows  that  the  entre- 
preneur's mentality  is  not  really  of  German  origin,  and 
therefore  cannot  in  our  land  lead  to  its  ultimate  consequences. 
These  consequences  (which  must  not  be  self-seeking  either 
for  the  individual  self  or  for  the  family  self,  since  an  organism 
devoted  to  self-seeking  cannot  endure)  would  make  themselves 
fully  manifest  directly  the  right  of  inheritance,  which  now 
by  false  analogy  and  uncriticised  custom  attaches  to  these 
creations,  underwent  a  change  in  character.  What  is  a 
rare  exception  to-day,  will  become  a  general  rule  in  the 
future.  What  one  generation  creates,  will  in  the  next 
generation  acquire  universal  validity  for  the  service  of  that 
generation.  The  economic  unit  is  no  longer  exclusively 
the  family  stock,  but  the  community.  Nevertheless,  this 
community  is  not  merely  the  schematically  associated 
community  of  the  state.  Intermediately  between  the  family 
and  the  state,  an  ideal  existence  is  carried  on  by  economic 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     125 

individualities    which    are    not    men    but    embodiments    of 
human  will. 

It  is  permissible  that  foundations  to  a  certain  extent 
should  subserve  the  family  idea,  inasmuch  as  they  contribute 
in  some  measure  towards  the  education  and  vital  equipment 
of  individual  scions  ;  it  is  permissible  in  so  far  as  these 
objects  can  be  fulfilled  without  undue  interference  with  the 
common  good.  On  no  account,  however,  must  we  tolerate 
the  degeneration  into  the  support  of  functionless  share- 
holders, or  into  the  cultivation  of  privileged  castes. 

If  we  now  survey  the  economic  life  of  a  country  which 
we  assume  to  have  realised  the  principles  of  the  new  order, 
we  shall  discern  the  following  series  of  effects. 

The  aspect  of  production  has  changed.  All  the  energies 
of  the  land  have  become  active  ;  none  but  invalids  and  the 
elderly  are  idle.  The  import  and  manufacture  of  needless, 
ugly,  and  noxious  products  has  been  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
Thereby  a  third  of  the  national  labour  power  has  been 
saved,  so  that  the  production  of  necessary  goods  has  been 
notably  cheapened  and  increased. 

The  concentration  of  manufacturing  energy  upon  necessary 
and  useful  products  increases  the  effectiveness  of  human 
labour  in  relation  to  the  goods  produced.  The  factor  of 
attainability  grows.  The  average  share  of  products  available 
for  consumption  rises,  so  that  for  an  equal  amount  of  labour 
a  higher  standard  of  life  becomes  possible. 

Whilst  the  general  wellbeing  of  the  country  is  doubled 
or  trebled  by  the  setting  of  idle  hands  to  work  and  by  the 
rationalisation  of  production,  the  accumulation  of  private 
wealth  is  checked.  Consequently  the  growth  of  property 
must  advantage  the  community.  These  benefits  accrue  in 
two  different  ways. 

First  of  all,  the  state  grows  rich  beyond  imagination. 

All  the  tasks  it  has  hitherto  performed,  can  now  be 
performed  much  better.  The  state  can  abolish  poverty  and 
unemployment ;  it  can  fulfil  to  an  unprecedented  degree 
all  obligations  of  a  generally  useful  character,  without  having 
recourse  to  increased  taxation.  Sources  of  revenue  which 
to-day  are  utilised  by  methods  that  exploit  economic  life 
and  thus  work  immense  harm,  can  in  the  new  order  be 


126     IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

dealt  with  apart  from  fiscal  considerations.  Considering  in 
this  connection  one  problem  alone,  that  of  traffic  and  trans- 
port, it  is  obvious  that  the  abandonment  of  profit-making 
considerations  by  the  state  would  result  in  a  great  multiplica- 
tion of  productive  capacity  and  in  an  almost  incredible 
cheapening  of  manufacture.  For,  practically  speaking,  the 
whole  transport  system  in  the  hands  of  the  state  would  be 
made  free.  The  effect  would  be  the  same  as  if  all  the  sources 
of  raw  material  and  all  the  means  of  production  throughout 
the  country  had  been  concentrated  into  a  single  area.  The 
same  considerations  apply  to  the  generation  and  distribution 
of  mechanical  energy. 

The  state  becomes  the((J§uardian  and  administrator  of 
enormous  means  for  investment.  On  the  most  moderate 
terms,  it  places  these  means  at  the  disposal  of  all  productive 
occupations,  while  making  it  a  condition  that  those  to  whom 
such  means  are  ceded  shall  pay  the  normal  rate  of  wages. 
A  new  middle  class  comes  into  existence  through  the  national 
financing  of  such  medium-scale  enterprises  as  it  is  expedient 
to  maintain  side  by  side  with  the  large-scale  industries. 
The  influx  of  nationalised  capital  lowers  the  rate  of  interest 
in  industrial  undertakings  throughout  the  country  and 
facilitates  the  establishment  of  enterprises  of  moderate 
proportions. 

i  At  the  same  time  the  state  is  enabled  to  liberate 
intellectual  labour  from  the  "mechanism  of  material  -industry, 
and  to  ensure  to  brainworkers  that  adequate  return  which 
to-day  depends  upon  the  chances  of  an  unspiritual  success. 
The  artist,  the  thinker,  and  the  man  of  learning,  grow 
independent  of  the  decrees  of  a  market  which  will"  not 
reward  the  genuine  unless  it  is  lucky  enough  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  spurious. 

As  the  state  becomes  more  prosperous,  so  concomitantly 
does  the  wellbeing  of  the  people  increase,  not  indeed  through 
an  increase  in  great  private  fortunes,  but  through  the  general 
diffusion  of  civic  comfort.  Class  contrasts  have  disappeared  ; 
the  path  towards  independence1  and  responsibility  has  been 
thrown  open  to  all ;  the  means  of  culture  are  accessible.!© 
every  person  of  talent.  No  longer  has  thexman  of  ability 
to  struggle  against  the  closed  phalanx  of  the  privileged  ; 
we  see  a  continuous  intermingling,  an  enduring  ascent  and 


THE     WAY     OF     ECONOMICS     127 

descent,  in  the  ranks  of  the  active  and  in  the  ranks  of  the 
leaders.  In  proportion  as,  on  the  one  hand,  the  accumulation 
of  savings  facilitates  the  securing  of  economic  credits,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  recommencement  of  existences  becomes 
a  daily  occurrence  through  withdrawal  into  the  battalions 
of  the  less  highly  skilled  workers — wage  struggles  grow  less 
bitter,  all  the  more  so  since  moral  and  intellectual  qualities 
are  increasingly  influential  in  deciding  choice  of  occupation. 
Above  all  we  shall  find  that  the  conditions  of  the  supply  of 
labour  have  changed.  Whereas  to-day  hands  are  at  times 
idle,  while  machines  and  the  means  of  production  are  in 
excessive  demand,  in  the  new  or*der,  machines  and  capital 
will  wait  for  the  hands  tc^  set  them  at  work,  and  consequently 
willing  workers  will  secure  an  enhanced  share  of  the  values 
produced  by  labour. 

The  stratum  of  new  structures,  the  stratum  of  autonomous 
enterprises  which  has  been  intercalated  between  the  private 
economy  and  the  state  economy,  contributes  to  promote 
these  results.  The  autonomous  economic  instrument  •  has 
its  activities  predominantly  determined  by  other  considera- 
tions than  those  of  high  profit.  It  aims  at  the  accumulation 
of  surpluses  only  in  so  far  as  is  requisite  for  renovation  and 
extension.  The  conflict  with  the  interests  of  the  wage- 
earners  is  mitigated.  Nay  more,  some  of  these  new  organisms 
will  as  a  matter  of  principle  admit  the  workers  to  a  share 
in  the  profits  ;  others  will  seek  to  secure  the  advantages 
of  an  economic  form  which  is  no  longer  subordinated  to 
the  monetary  interests  oLshareholders  and  capitalists,  by 
improving  the  status  of  tKeir  workers  through  high  wages, 
and  thus  securing  work  of  better  quality  and  a  greater 
degree  of  intensity.  The  existence  and  the  competition  of 
these  autonomous  enterprises  will  have  a  stimulating  reaction 
upoli  the  labour  market. 

When  economic  life  assumes  such  characters,  it  becomes 
possible  to  ensure  equality  in  education  and  the  careful 
selection  of  all  available  talent,  these  measures  decisively 
contributing  to  strengthen  ^the  whole  life  of  the  nation  ; 
whereas  to-day  the  best  attempts  towards  an  unprejudiced 
popular- education  are  shipwrecked  through  the  diversities 
in  the  domestic  circumstances  of  the  pupils,  and  through 
the  variations  in  their  bodily  and  mental  qualities.  A 


128     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

nation  can  only  come  to  full  maturity,  can  only  develop  its 
spiritual  and  moral  powers  to  the  maximum,  when  no  grain 
of  corn  falls  on  barren  ground,  and  when  every  shoot  secures 
the  care  which  comports  with  the  worth  and  the  divine 
calling  of  the  human  spirit.  Lest  any  fallacy  should  creep 
in  to  invalidate  the  understanding  of  what  might  seem  to 
be  a  Utopian  picture,  the  contrast  between  the  existing 
system  and  that  which  is  destined  to  replace  it  may  be 
briefly  summarised  : 

1.  Production  and  wellbeing  must  be  increased  throughout 
the  country,  for : 

extravagance  will  be  put  a  stop  to ; 

superfluous   production   will   be   replaced   by   useful 

production  ; 
idleness  will  be  abolished,  and  all  available    forces 

will  be  harnessed  to  the  work  of  spiritual  and 

material  production ; 
free  competition  and  the  spirit  of  private  enterprise 

will  be  preserved ; 
responsibility  will  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  those  who 

are  most  capable  both  morally  and  intellectually. 

2.  The  accumulation   of  immoderate  and  dead  wealth 
will  be  checked. 

3.  Caste   barriers   will   be   broken   down ;    in   place   of 
permanently  burdened  and  permanently  burdening  members, 
there  will  be  a  system  characterised  by  organic  movement 
and  by  organic  ascent  and  descent. 

4.  Therewith  will  increase : 

the  power  of  the  state,  its  material  strength,  and 
its  equalising  energy ; 

and  simultaneously  there  will  arise  an  equable 
condition  of  average  wellbeing,  which  will 
permeate  all  classes,  will  do  away  with  class 
contrasts,  and  will  promote  throughout  the 
land  the  highest  conceivable  development  of 
intellectual  and  economic  energies. 


THE   WAY   OF  MORALS 

IT  is  a  common  error  to-day  to  repudiate  the  notion  of  pro- 
gressive evolution,  which  for  a  century  has  been  so  greatly 
extolled. 

True  enough  that  evolution  is  an  occurrence  in  time 
and  space  ;  and  that  if  we  venture  to  fix  our  gaze  on  the 
absolute,  that  which  is  conditioned  by  time  and  space  is  no 
longer  within  our  field  of  vision.  We  are  free  to  describe 
what  is  beyond  space  and  time  as  at  rest ;  but  here,  although 
the  space  element  and  the  time  element  approximate  to 
zero,  our  concept  does  not  wholly  escape  them.  Our  pro- 
cedure is  more  radical  when,  as  the  primal  basis  of  our 
symbolisation,  we  demand  contrasts  of  unknown  categories. 
Thus  an  inadequate  image  may  be  secured :  rest  at  the 
centre  of  the  noumenon ;  increasing  movement  as  we 
advance  towards  the  periphery  of  the  phenomenon. 

This  consideration  loses  all  significance  as  soon  as  we 
step  on  to  the  stage  of  the  phenomenal.  We  are  placed  in 
this  phenomenal  world  in  order  that  we  may  act ;  the 
phenomenal  world  is  dominated  by  intellectual  thought ; 
in  the  phenomenal  world,  the  phantoms  space,  time,  and 
movement,  are  real  requisites. 

The  stage  is  illumined  by  light  from  another  realm  ;  this 
light  is  ethics.  That  transcendental  realm  whence  the 
light  derives,  is  no  longer  the  domain  of  the  intellect.  In 
man's  soul  lie  the  spiritual  powers  which  open  the  way  into 
this  realm. 

Herein  we  discern  the  naive  error  of  philosophy,  which 
has  presumed  itself  competent  to  force  its  way  into  all 
realms  by  the  power  of  the  intellect,  of  logic,  of  the  multi- 
plication table ;  and  which  has  never  asked  itself  whether 

9  129 


130    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

this  intellectual  force  was  really  an  absolute,  and  whether 
it  was  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  only  power  possessed  by 
the  spirit ;  which  has  never  demanded  whether,  for  every 
sphere  of  knowledge,  adequate  spiritual  powers  may  not 
be  essential ;  and  whether  germs  of  these  powers  may  not 
manifest  themselves  in  the  intuitive  sphere,  in  the  love 
energy  of  the  soul.  The  millenniums  passed,  and  again 
and  ever  again  the  multiplication  table  was  applied  to  the 
unriddling  of  problems  which  even  the  yearning  of  the  soul 
was  incompetent  to  solve. 

Here  the  two  primary  outlooks  diverge  :  are  we  to  attempt 
a  description  of  the  absolute  in  the  language  of  the  intellect ; 
or  a  description  of  the  phenomenal  world  in  the  language 
of  the  soul  ?  From  the  soul's  outlook,  the  phenomenal 
world  is  a  parable  ;  it  is  a  stage  on  which  we  have  been  placed 
that,  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  Dramaturge,  we 
may  create  and  experience  our  restless  destiny.  From  the 
outlook  of  the  intellect,  the  transcendental  is  an  ascent. 
The  neutral  territory  between  the  two  viewpoints  is  our 
sense  of  moral  obligation.  Here  stands  the  need  for  linking 
up.  Here  it  is  inadmissible  to  look  upon  the  phenomenal 
wholly  as  self-determinative  or  wholly  as  the  sport  of  chance. 
Here  the  soul  teaches  the  intellect,  and  proves  itself  of  loftier 
origin. 

The  intermingling  remains  inadmissible.  We  must  not 
obscure  real  life  by  the  transcendental  contemplation  of 
motionlessness ;  nor  must  we  violate  the  transcendental 
realm  by  the  introduction  of  earthly  ordinances. 

Upon  the  side  of  intellectual  contemplation  in  the  realm 
of  the  phenomenal,  it  is  our  right  and  our  duty  to  regard 
the  beginning  of  the  soul  as  ascent  and  evolution,  although 
from  the  transcendental  outlook  the  soul  has  neither  begin- 
ning nor  end 

Contemplation  of  economic,  historical,  and  social  things 
must  always  carry  with  it  the  awareness  that  it  is  operative 
on  the  stage  of  the  phenomenal.  The  observer  must  take 
real  life  seriously ;  he  must  have  faith  in  knowledge  and  in 
growth  within  the  limits  of  their  possibilities,  and  in  so  far 
as  he  is  concerned  with  the  extant.  But  if  goals  come  into 
his  ken,  then  morality  assumes  the  leadership.  For  then, 
although  the  extant  may  not  become  a  mere  accessory, 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     131 

nevertheless  it  is  not  the  decisive  factor.  The  summons 
comes  from  afar,  and  is  none  the  less  powerfully  effective, 
just  as  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides  are  conditioned  by  the 
pull  of  remote  bodies.  The  extant  stands  fixed  and  is 
nevertheless  plastic,  like  ductile  metal.  We  can  have  faith 
in  evolution  ;  we  can  trust  that  evolution,  in  its  dealings 
with  refractory  elements,  with  apparently  permanent  con- 
stants, and  even  with  the  passions,  the  wishes,  and  the 
illusions  of  men,  will  bring  about  a  clearer  and  more  perfect 
state  of  affairs,  will  lead  us  nearer  to  the  realm  of  the  soul. 

If  we  find  that,  since  the  extinction  of  absolute  dogmatic 
ideals,  the  world  has  been  competent  to  advance  a  step  or 
two  in  addition  to  busying  itself  about  mechanical  defensive 
measures,  this  has  been  rendered  possible  solely  by  the 
fact  that  in  the  nooks  and  crannies  of  consciousness  there 
are  still  everywhere  to  be  found  vestiges  of  the  faiths  of  an 
earlier  day,  vestiges  deriving  from  transcendental,  myth- 
ological, fetichistic,  and  animistic  sources,  and  that  these, 
though  impotent  in  isolation,  are  still  collectively  competent 
to  point  a  path. 

It  is  inconceivable  that  this  world,  with  its  incredible 
wealth  of  spiritual  forces,  should  have  been  subjected  to  the 
chance  play  of  material  needs,  physical  balances,  majority 
decisions,  without  the  counterpoise  of  one,  imperturbable, 
ethical  driving-force.  Without  the  conviction  of  an  abso- 
lute good  for  whose  attainment  we  needs  must  strive. 
Without  faith  in  a  common  goal,  embracing  both  life  and 
death.  Without  a  faculty  which  can  form  valid  estimates, 
deciding  that  one  thing  is  good  and  another  bad. 

Doubtless,  interests  can  likewise  create  faiths.  An 
agricultural  corporation  capitalises  its  annual  profits  in  the 
form  of  a  religio-political  outlook.  The  free-trading  interests 
crystallise  their  business  ideas  in  the  form  of  a  lucrative 
deism.  The  investigator  creates  for  himself  a  transcendental 
arch-professor  who  smiles  upon  his  worshipper's  work.  A 
great  ruler  makes  bargains  with  his  divinity.  A  poor  wight 
takes  his  revenge  and  deposes  his  divinity.  Has  it  never 
struck  anyone  that  throughout  this  wide  world  there  does 
not  seem  to  exist  a  single  being  who  has  a  conviction  which 
conflicts  with  his  interests  ? 

Is,  then,  the  world  to  be  guided,  is  its  spiritual  will  to 


132    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

be  determined,  along  the  diagonals  of  the  parallelograms 
of  forces  which  are  formed  by  the  multiplicity  of  transcen- 
dentalised  interests  ? 

And  yet  the  realm  of  the  soul,  and  therewith  the  ordering 
of  ideals  and  goals,  lies  open  to  the  gaze  of  us  all,  far  better, 
far  more  organically  arranged  than  is  the  confused  world 
of  realities. 

Inconceivable  is  a  second  and  lesser  thing  which  should 
be  dear  to  the  heart  of  an  age  that  prides  itself  on  being 
practical.  Man,  who  believes  himself  to  be  a  successful 
student  of  all  realms  in  the  heaven  above  and  the  earth 
beneath,  still  lacks  power  to  form  a  true  estimate  of  man 
himself  ;  he  does  not  know  and  cannot  value  his  own 
immediate  neighbour,  the  one  who  is  just  such  another  as 
himself. 

Obsolete  systems  of  valuation  deriving  from  all  ages  and 
all  regions,  intersect  in  human  consciousness,  and  not  one 
of  them  can  win  to  headship  because  of  the  lack  of  a 
leading,  fundamental,  and  universally  valid  philosophical 
outlook. 

In  the  western  popular  consciousness  and  in  its  aesthetic 
outlook,  the  Teutonic  polarity  of  courage  and  fear  pre- 
ponderates. Highly  esteemed  is  every  quality  which  dis- 
plays courage  ;  despised  and  hated  is  every  defect  which 
arises  out  of  fear.  The  use  of  force  is  invariably  pardoned 
if  it  be  combined  with  frankness,  honesty,  and  valiancy  ;  the 
cowardice  of  falsehood,  subterfuge,  and  deceit  brings  dis- 
grace. The  reproach  of  reproaches  is  that  of  cowardice  ; 
honour  is  almost  synonymous  with  courage.  Proof  of 
courage  in  the  duel  brings  healing  to  offended  honour. 
Wisdom,  energy,  piety,  mercifulness,  are  indifferent  qualities  ; 
they  may  be  useful  or  harmful ;  they  may  borrow  recognition 
or  disapproval  from  some  neighbouring  system  of  valuation  ; 
but  they  have  no  bearing  upon  the  significant  and  decisive 
valuation.  In  imaginative  writing,  the  characteristics  of 
courage  and  sincerity  arouse  active  sympathy.  A  hero  of 
fictiorr  may  be  slothful,  visionary,  violent,  foolish,  ignorant, 
or  egotistical,  and  may  nevertheless  win  the  reader's 
approval ;  but  if  a  character  display  cowardice,  falseness, 
or  malice,  he  can  never  be  made  the  hero  of  such  a  work  ;  the 
very  name  of  "  hero  "  which  is  conventionally  applied  to  a 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     133 

leading  character  in  a  work  of  fiction  connotes  this  idea  of 
courage  In  the  conflict  of  the  tragical  drama,  the  uncon- 
scious antinomy  of  popular  sentiment  is  pushed  to  an 
extreme.  The  hero  is  courageous,  and  therefore  enlists 
our  sympathies  ;  he  displays  excess  of  certain  indifferent 
qualities,  or  lack  of  others  ;  consequently,  as  may  be  dictated 
by  the  course  of  the  world  or  of  destiny  (to  which,  strangely 
enough,  these  qualities  are  not  indifferent),  the  hero  perishes 
amid  the  sympathies  of  the  audience,  which  is  emotionally 
moved,  intellectually  astonished,  but  which  half  unwittingly 
understands.  In  French  imaginative  literature  it  suffices 
that  the  hero  should  prove  himself  courageous,  sometimes 
generous  ;  for  the  rest,  he  will  not  alienate  sympathy  if 
like  Julien  Sorel  in  Stendhal's  celebrated  novel,  he  lies, 
suspects,  and  intrigues.  In  German  and  in  English  litera- 
ture, on  the  other  hand,  if  the  hero  is  to  arouse  our  sympathy 
he  must  display  conspicuous  and  unalloyed  courage. 

In  a  frame  of  mind  which  can  be  imparted  by  education 
we  find  that,  side  by  side  with  esteem  for  courage,  there 
will  exist  the  oriental  esteem  for  mercifulness  and  wisdom, 
for  the  patriarchal  ideal,  which  was  alien  to  the  sympathies 
of  medieval  Germany — so  that  she  resisted  the  entry  of 
biblical  ideas  into  the  German  poetic  consciousness. 

During  the  last  century,  through  the  professional  and 
artistic  training  of  sensibilities,  there  have  originated  the 
rudiments  of  an  intellectual  valuation.  The  increase  of 
intellectual  capacity  to  talent,  the  increase  of  intuitive 
capacity  to  genius,  seem  to  become  decisive,  and  to  achieve 
detachment  from  ethical  conditions. 

Mechanised  thinking  pays  honour  to  success.  A  new 
polarity  of  values  came  into  existence,  and  enduringly 
influenced  the  popular  consciousness.  I  refer  to  the  Ameri- 
can gradation  of  working  energy,  tenacity,  resoluteness,  and 
fixity  of  the  imaginative  will. 

When  the  moral  sensibilities  undergo  precipitation  upon 
the  parchments  of  the  law,  we  have  a  fragmentary  reflection 
of  the  motley  disorder  of  the  systems.  Lying  is  permissible, 
even  before  the  judgment  seat ;  but  perjury  is  forbidden. 
Offences  against  property  are  severely  punished,  especially 
when  they  take  the  form  of  cowardly  fraud.  The  duel  is 
forbidden  ;  and  nevertheless,  in  accordance  with  popular 


134     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

and  class  sentiment,  this  proof  of  courage  is  tolerated  within 
certain  limits. 

Social  estimates  show  the  same  medley  of  bourgeois 
utilities.  Cowardice  and  knavish  spite,  if  publicly  dis- 
played, incur  public  censure.  Falsehood,  avarice,  cunning, 
malice,  calumny,  ruthlessness,  arrogance,  vanity,  ingratitude, 
ambition,  sloth,  lasciviousness,  bad  manners,  are  tolerated 
if  they  do  not  interfere  with  bourgeois  success.  Diligence, 
energy,  force  of  will,  decision,  talent,  wit,  thoughtfulness, 
are  approved,  and  when  they  lead  to  success  are  greatly 
admired.  Kindliness,  magnanimity,  self-sacrifice,  natural 
endowments,  are  esteemed  when  they  are  openly  recognised. 

This  is  an  approximately  complete  inventory  of  the 
subconscious,  the  conscious,  the  legal,  and  the  social  valua- 
tions of  our  day.  There  must,  however,  be  now  living  in 
Europe  at  least  a  thousand  persons  who  know  nothing  of 
one  another,  though  their  eyes  have  been  opened.  They 
possess  the  elements  of  a  new  valuation.  Nay  more,  to 
them  has  been  vouchsafed  the  momentous  insight  which 
transfuses  human  affairs  as  light  transfuses  a  crystal.  Not 
only  do  mouth  and  eyes  speak  to  them  but  forehead,  form, 
and  hands  likewise.  The  selection  and  the  sound  of  some 
chance  word ;  the  unexpressed  link  in  a  succession  of 
thoughts  ;  an  involuntary  movement ;  every  choice,  pre- 
ference, or  aversion  in  thoughts,  things,  and  men  ;  every 
bond  in  the  environment,  in  intercourse,  in  the  conduct  of 
life — to  the  favoured  few,  all  these  things  reveal  the  essential 
nature  of  what  they  contemplate,  with  an  intensity  and 
clarity  which  for  the  majority  is  rendered  possible  only  by 
means  of  the  burning-glass  of  poetic  vision. 

People  are  fond  of  referring  to  the  talent  of  knowing 
human  nature,  and  many  understand  by  this  a  kind  of 
suspicious  cunning,  which  seeks  to  discover  the  secret  motives, 
artifices,  and  weaknesses  of  human  beings,  in  order  that  the 
discoverer.may,  to  better  effect,  exploit  and  control  his  fellows. 
All  that  this  false  and  slavish  virtue  can  lead  to  is  but  petty 
and  unjust  advantage,  for  it  can  only  be  practised  by  persons 
of  the  baser  sort  and  against  those  of  their  own  kidney.  A 
true  knowledge  of  men  is  disclosed  to  none  but  responsible 
persons,  to  those  who  are  puissantly  endowed,  although 
they  need  not  possess  genius.  The  royal  trust  in  mankind 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     135 

displayed  by  William  I  was  based  upon  such  a  force, 
and  availed  for  nearly  a  century  to  preserve  the  strictly 
monarchical  ideal. 

A  sympathetic  understanding  of  men  never  leads  us  to 
despise  or  to  overrate  human  beings.  The  organic  sensation 
upon  which  it  is  based  grasps  the  necessity  for  the  creative 
abundance  which  fulfils  itself  in  the  simultaneous  harmony 
of  all  possibilities,  in  the  vigorous  upbuilding  of  all  stages. 
To  feel  contempt  is  doubly  blind,  for  it  involves  blindness 
towards  oneself  and  blindness  towards  the  multiplicity  of 
nature. 

Valuation  thus  loses  the  pharisaical  flavour  which  attaches 
to  all  narrow  ethical  judgments,  and  makes  them  repugnant 
to  creative  natures.  The  question  no  longer  runs,  what 
is  better  and  what  is  worse,  what  is  commendable  and  what 
is  contemptible,  what  is  saved  and  what  is  damned  ?  The 
question  runs,  what  looks  towards  the  future  and  what 
looks  towards  the  past ;  what  craves  for  responsibility  and 
what  craves  for  an  easy  time  ;  what  promotes  life,  and  what 
leads  our  footsteps  deathward  ? 

But  if  we  ask  those  who  have  gained  the  seer  s  vision 
in  human  affairs,  towards  what  poles  their  unconscious  and 
unerring  valuation  is  directed,  they  cannot  tell  us.  We 
know,  and  we  wish  to  reiterate  the  assertion,  that  it  is  directed 
towards  the  nearness  and  the  distance  of  the  soul.  These 
seers  have  glimpsed  the  contrast  between  the  soulful  and  the 
soulless  man,  and  they  perceive  transitional  varieties  between 
these  types  in  all  human  manifestations. 

In  earlier  writings  I  have  demonstrated  a  primal  con- 
trast and  have  thrown  light  upon  its  origin  :  the  contrast 
between  the  spirits  which  are  centred  in  the  absolute  and 
which  find  their  balance  in  the  fulfilling  energies  of  transcen- 
dentalism, intuition,  and  love ;  and  the  spirits  which  are 
centred  in  the  phenomenal  and  find  their  balance  in  desires 
and  anxieties.  The  transcendentalist  spirit  feels  that  its 
function  is  to  serve  the  unseen ;  it  fashions  and  dominates 
the  phenomenal  world,  not  arbitrarily  nor  for  the  sake  of 
pleasure,  but  mindful  of  its  mission  and  its  responsibilities. 
The  terrene  spirit  is  mastered  by  the  world,  by  the  physical, 
by  joys  and  sorrows,  things  and  men  In  the  endeavour 
to  free  itself,  it  wrestles  for  life  and  pleasure,  to  win  power 


136    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

over  the  senses ;  it  strives  for  knowledge  and  possessions, 
that  it  may  gain  the  mastery  over  things  ;  it  struggles  for 
power  and  dominion  that  it  may  subjugate  men.  A  three- 
fold error,  refuted  by  dissatisfaction,  doubt,  and  death. 

The  affect  of  such  a  spirit  is  greed  and  fear,  rationalised 
as  purpose.  Its  power  is  that  of  the  purely  analytical 
intellect ;  the  content  of  all  previous  philosophy  comprises 
unavailing  endeavours  to  create  a  picture  of  the  world  or 
to  construct  a  doctrine  of  morals  out  of  this  narrow,  un- 
transcendental,  and  tendentious  force.  Such  philosophy  has 
never  been  able  to  advance  beyond  self  limitation  and  the 
abdication  of  intellect,  for  at  a  single  step  beyond  this  point 
the  repressed  intuitive  forces  would  have  modestly  reasserted 
their  rights.  Psychologically  noteworthy  are  the  diverse 
manifestations  of  alarm  which  are  witnessed  whenever 
intellectual  energy  impinges  on  the  crystal  walls  of  the  neigh- 
bouring realm  ;  noteworthy,  too,  are  the  various  ways  in 
which  the  intellectual  energy  repudiates  that  neighbouring 
realm.  Every  ethical  system  based  on  the  purposive  in- 
tellect must  of  necessity  end  as  utilitarian  ;  but  shame  on 
account  of  this  bondage  to  earth,  and  despair  on  account  of 
the  sophistical  vaunting  of  trivial  utilities,  have  led  to  strange 
and  hybrid  mystifications. 

Above  all  do  the  practical  ethic  and  the  practical  religion 
of  the  intellectual  spirit  remain  utilitarian.  Neither  in  morals 
nor  in  religion  can  that  spirit  get  beyond  the  do  ut  des  of  the 
market-place.  At  the  mere  idea  of  faith  that  asks  no  proof, 
the  intellect  is  once  more  compelled  to  abdicate,  except  in 
so  far  as,  in  secret  alarm  at  the  results  of  its  own  researches, 
it  clings  to  historical  revelation.  Even  when  it  supplements 
the  phenomenal  world  by  a  theocratic  upper  world,  and  when 
it  supplements  our  mortal  life  by  a  posthumous  hereafter, 
hopes  and  fears,  bargainings  and  aims,  remain  decisive. 
We  may  call  such  a  compost  what  we  please ;  its  essential 
idea  is  still  utilitarian. 

Very  significant  is  the  way  in  which  the  purest  religions, 
those  deriving  from  the  regions  of  unalloyed  transcendental- 
ism grow  materialised  in  the  hands  of  nationalities  guided 
by  the  purposive  intellect.  Whether  it  ends  at  the  praying- 
wheel  or  at  the  reliquary,  the  road  invariably  leads  from 
unselfish  faith  to  prudent  bargaining. 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     137 

For  the  transcendentalist  spirit  there  is  no  ethical  bar- 
gaining, but,  rather,  an  ethical  condition.  The  pure,  unselfish 
mood,  inspired  by  contemplation  and  faith,  cannot  err  what- 
ever happens.  It  knows  nothing  of  formal  rules.  It  neither 
has  nor  wishes  to  have  prescriptions  for  the  attainment  of 
greater  happiness  than  it  already  possesses.  It  is  happy  in 
virtue  of  the  inflowing  energies  which  are  the  atmosphere  it 
breathes.  Finished,  now,  are  all  compromises  between  vice 
and  virtue,  between  aspiration  and  self-indulgence.  The 
ethical  process  has  been  withdrawn  from  the  ordering  of  the 
intellect,  and  has  entered  into  the  realm  of  its  own  fulfilling 
essence. 

Again  and  again  I  have  shown  what  it  is  that  our  age 
so  urgently  needs  to  know,  and  in  what  obvious  human 
radiations  the  nature  of  the  intellectual  spirit,  swayed  by 
fears  and  aims,  finds  expression.  I  have  shown  how  the 
cares  and  ties  of  earth  find  expression  in  egocentric  thought 
and  feeling  ;  how  dependence  upon  men  finds  expression  in 
ambition  and  display,  in-  loquacity  and  falsehood  ;  depen- 
dence upon  things,  in  covetousness  and  in  greed  for  knowledge ; 
the  whole  complex  of  the  untranscendental  tendency  of  the 
spirit,  in  a  detached,  unamiable,  and  critical  attitude  towards 
the  world,  in  vacillating  and  uninstinctive  activities,  in 
contempt  for  the  moment  and  eagerness  for  the  future,  in 
a  fondness  for  the  obvious,  the  declamatory,  and  the 
emotional,  in  a  bent  towards  superstition  and  towards 
interested  piety. 

Never  do  we  find  one  of  these  qualities  manifesting  itself 
in  isolation  ;  never  does  their  expression  elude  the  discerning 
gaze.  They  constitute  the  outward  measure  of  the  soul's 
distance  of  the  individual  and  of  the  nation.  They  con- 
stitute its  gradual  transition  to  the  manifestations  of 
transcendentalism  ;  to  the  creative  passion,  to  truth,  reality, 
and  intuition  ;  to  freedom  from  things,  men,  and  the  ego  ; 
to  absorption  in  things  for  things'  sake  ;  to  love  for  love's 
sake  ;  to  unselfish  piety  ;  to  gratefulness,  self-sacrifice,  and 
illumination.  This  is  the  true  path  of  humanity  ;  here, 
whether  they  pass  them  or  no,  are  the  stations  for  men  and 
for  the  peoples  ;  these  are  the  only  true  and  infallible  measures 
of  human  development. 

To  one  who  unconsciously  feels  these  measures  to  be  parts 


138       IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

of  himself,  such  demonstrations  can  say  nothing  new.  They 
can  only  elucidate  relationships  which  it  is  not  difficult  to 
think  out.  But  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
universal  valuation  should  at  length  foresee  what  its  teaching 
is  to  bring  to  mankind.  No  longer  shall  the  dead  remnants 
of  contradictory  ethical  systems  praise  and  recommend  now 
this  and  now  that,  so  that  in  the  long  run  everyone  comes 
to  regard  with  confident  approval  the  lot  he  has  drawn,  and 
so  that  the  world  becomes  petrified  in  self-satisfaction.  It 
is  a  happy  sign  that  there  should  exist  to-day  a  moderate 
number  of  persons  who,  without  the  incitation  of  prophets 
and  zealots,  share  this  estimate  of  values  in  a  tacit  agree- 
ment, and  who  without  hatred  or  proselytising  zeal  find 
them  confirmed  in  every  individuality.  No  more  than 
a  few  decades  will  elapse  before  Germany  at  least  will 
see  the  human  path  open  before  her. 

The  intellect  is  immensely  old  ;  dating  from  the  days  of 
the  prehuman.  Mankind  has  grown  grey  in  this  school  ; 
with  unconscious  mastery  our  race  has  wielded  the  intellect's 
formulas  and  utilitarian  criteria  throughout  the  unending 
series  of  the  generations.  But  the  soul  is  young.  Each 
one  of  us  must  toil  anew  for  the  acquirement  of  his  share  ; 
its  speech  is  still  hesitant ;  in  its  spirit  we  are  children.  The 
nations,  youthful  structures  with  no  more  than  a  few  millen- 
niums of  life  behind  them,  have  in  their  collective  conscious- 
ness mastered  the  methods  of  the  intellect,  and  employ 
these,  inwardly  for  upbuilding,  and  outwardly  for  defence. 
Hitherto,  their  dawning  consciousness  of  soul  has  been 
exclusively  manifested  in  the  collective  organism  of  speech  ; 
in  morals,  tradition  and  myth  ;  and  in  collective  works  of 
art,  such  as  town  planning,  cathedral  building,  furniture, 
and  folk-song.  Religious  transcendentalism,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  in  the  collective  consciousness  invariably  been 
intellectualised  and  degraded  into  ritual  and  ecclesiasticism  ; 
an  outwardly  operative  political  conscience  has  not  yet  come 
into  being  ;  the  states  confront  one  another  as  non-moral 
entities. 

Among  the  bequests  of  the  pure  intellect,  the  most 
important  has  been  the  creation  ot  European  science  and  the 
materialisation  of  that  science  as  the  mechanistic  epoch. 
I  have  already  described  how  external  and  internal  cir- 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     139 

cumstances — the  growth  of  population,  the  reciprocal  actions 
and  reactions  of  opposing  strata  of  the  population,  the 
struggles  between  the  intuitive  and  the  intellectual  spirit — 
had  to  cooperate  in  order  to  bring  about  this  movement. 
It  suffices  here  to  insist  that  the  mechanistic  epoch,  when 
still  far  from  its  climax,  begins  to  nourish  within  itself  the 
counter  forces,  which  are  not  indeed  destined  to  destroy 
mechanisation  in  its  practical  workings  (for  mechanisation 
will  remain  indispensable  as  a  lever  to  overcome  the  inertia 
of  dead  masses)  ;  but  which  aie  unquestionably  destined  to 
deprive  mechanisation  of  its  dominion  over  the  spirit,  and  to 
make  of  it  the  servant  of  mankind. 

For  the  more  definitely  the  new  thought-forms,  modes  of 
investigation,  and  methods  of  action  peculiar  to  mechanisa- 
tion, whether  applied  to  science,  technique,  economics,  or 
politics,  become  a  common  heritage  of  civilisation,  after 
they  have  for  two  centuries  been  the  secret  instruments  and 
the  jealously  guarded  privileges  of  an  intellectual  minority; 
the  more  these  things,  absorbed  into  the  realm  of  the  uncon- 
scious, cease  to  provide  exceptional  advantages  for  the  few — 
the  more  effective  and  the  more  indispensable  will  in  turn 
become  the  gradations  of  the  purely  creative,  intuitive,  and 
responsible  spirit ;  and  the  more  will  the  manifestations 
of  this  latter  spirit  assume  the  leadership. 

Even  to-day,  above  all  in  the  spheres  of  politics  and 
economics,  but  likewise  in  the  spheres  of  technique  and 
science,  there  is  a  superfluity  of  intelligent  persons,  but  an 
inadequate  supply  of  persons  of  strong  character  and  good 
intuitive  gifts.  We  begin  to  look  upon  a  trained  intelligence 
as  a  matter  of  course,  and  to  realise  that  the  intellect  is  not 
effective  unless  supplemented  by  nobler  components.  The 
innate  inadequacies  of  the  intelligence  grow  plain.  The 
intolerable  sameness  of  all  that  is  thought  and  done,  whether 
in  great  things  or  in  small,  levels  the  way  for  the  overwhelming 
pre-eminence  of  anyone  who  is  able  to  pile  Pelion  upon  Ossa, 
for  anyone  who  can  use  intuition  to  crown  the  force  of  the 
understanding.  A  certain  measure  of  intellectual  develop- 
ment is  attainable  by  all,  even  in  spheres  which  seem  almost 
inaccessible  to  schooling.  Even  in  artistic  work,  an  average 
degree  of  skill  can  be  produced  by  training ;  the  painting 
of  a  tolerable  picture,  the  writing  of  a  readable  novel,  requires 


140     IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

nothing  more  than  an  average  degree  of  culture,  an  average 
imitative  faculty,  which  are  often  enough  mistaken  for 
creative  gifts. 

The  ethical  significance  of  the  valuation  of  human  qualities 
attains  the  level  of  a  social  necessity,  for  none  but  the  higher 
types  of  mankind  can  overcome  the  tyranny  of  mechanisation, 
can  turn  its  forces  to  good  account.  Future  ages  will  be 
amazed  that  we  entrusted  leadership,  responsibility,  and 
power  to  the  free  competition  of  ignoble  and  even  dishonour- 
able qualities  and  talents,  simply  because  we  lacked  insight 
and  the  capacity  to  draw  distinctions  ;  they  will  be  amazed 
that  we  esteemed  readiness,  a  frank  contempt  for  truth, 
loquacity,  brutality,  selfishness,  fussy  activity,  a  mean 
calculation  of  chances,  push,  and  servility,  whenever  these 
qualities  were  embodied  in  one  able  to  use  the  lever  of 
mechanisation  with  notable  success ;  they  will  be  amazed 
that  we  regarded  it  as  an  inevitable  necessity  for  these 
devilish  forces  to  acquire  the  larger  moiety  of  earthly  prestige 
and  pre-eminence.  That  we  were  not  ashamed  to  look  on 
calmly  while  noble  natures  perished,  and  could  not  hold 
their  own  in  a  combat  where  the  weapons  were  so  little 
to  their  taste.  That  we  were  not  even  able  to  recognise  the 
outward  signs  which  are  displayed  plainly  enough  at  the 
first  glance  and  at  the  first  word,  although  the  number  of 
the  seers  was  already  sufficient  for  the  establishment  of  a 
knowledge  of  human  nature  which,  had  it  been  diffused  by 
the  schools  and  the  universities,  could  have  opened  the  eyes 
and  ears  of  youth.  Instead  of  this,  we  cling  to  the  shadowy 
vestiges  of  theoretical  moral  systems  diverse  in  origin  and 
aim ;  systems  which  mutually  contradict  and  mutually 
annul  one  another  to  such  a  degree,  that  complete  indiffer- 
entism  results,  and  ultimately  all  moral  demands  are  satisfied 
with  the  surplus  remnant,  the  minimal  balance,  of  so-called 
respectability.  In  the  sense  of  this  contemporary  European 
morality,  a  respectable  man  is  one  who  pays  the  more  urgent 
among  his  debts,  one  who  does  not  allow  himself  to  be  caught 
lying,  who  does  not  publicly  annoy  his  neighbours,  who 
conducts  his  business  affairs  with  due  respect  to  the  law, 
subscribes  to  charitable  funds,  gives  satisfaction,  is  well 
dressed,  tolerably  well  educated,  can  produce  evidence  of 
having  been  born  in  lawful  wedlock,  and  that  his  father 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     141 

possessed  the  like  qualities.  Throughout  all  civilised  lands, 
in  the  year  of  grace  1915,  these  endowments  suffice,  as  far 
as  bourgeois  moral  sensibilities  are  concerned,  to  furnish 
good  repute,  to  satisfy  every  economic  demand,  to  discharge 
all  human  responsibilities,  and  finally,  whenever  any  excep- 
tionally useful  quality  or  knowledge  is  superadded,  to  open 
the  way  to  all  positions  of  power. 

If  we  are  agreed  that  all  economic  and  social  science 
is  nothing  more  than  applied  ethics ;  that  the  state,  the 
economic  system,  and  society,  deserve  to  perish  if  they 
signify  nothing  more  than  a  balance  of  bridled  interests,  of 
armed  and  unarmed  associations  of  producers  and  con- 
sumers ;  that  only  the  spiritual  content  of  life  is  worthy 
to  exist ;  that  the  soul  creates  form  and  vesture  for  itself 
out  of  things  and  institutions  Which  become  dead  corpses 
when  their  spiritual  essence  takes  to  flight — if  this  be  accepted, 
it  remains  to  ascertain  the  mutual  relationships  between 
the  bed  and  the  stream,  between  the  creative  will  and  the 
created  institution.  We  have  anticipated  in  describing  the 
institutions  which,  in  the  section  The  Way  of  Economics 
we  deduced  from  a  general  law ;  we  must  study  the  trans- 
formations of  consciousness  which  accompany  the  course  of 
institutions,  which  must  precede  and  follow  that  course. 
A  brief  commentary  has  revealed  to  us  the  confusionism  of 
the  metaphysical  and  moral  consciousness,  has  made  us 
aware  how  little  true  knowledge  and  how  little  power  of  just 
valuation  human  beings  possess ;  the  claims  which  ensue 
therefrom  must  be  fulfilled,  the  realisations  must  be  woven 
into  the  web  of  the  future. 

We  have  seen  that  renunciation  is  the  guiding  star 
of  social  morality ;  the  renunciation  of  fealty  to  super- 
fluities, the  renunciation  of  things  as  a  source  of  power, 
the  renunciation  of  the  selfishness  of  the  family  stock ;  an 
endeavour  to  promote  the  most  important  things  of  the 
outward  life,  to  promote  solidarity,  self-surrender  to  the 
community,  the  abandonment  of  unjust  and  immoral  claims, 
the  perpetuation  of  responsibility  towards  spiritual  and 
moral  powers. 

If  this  be  the  visible  way,  it  now  behoves  us  to  describe 
the  invisible  way,  to  demonstrate  the  curve  of  human  opinion 


142     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

along  which  the  outward  movement  takes  place.  We  are 
aware  that  the  contemporary  consciousness  opposes  this 
kinetic  outlook.  The  mechanism  of  external  life  would 
hamper  and  constrict  our  movements  even  to  the  point  of 
destruction  were  it  prematurely  and  without  preparation 
to  be  forced  into  new  rhythms.  Intuition  is  the  primary 
requisite.  Slowly  and  yet  inevitably  is  it  followed  by  the 
forms  of  opinion  ;  now  the  rigid  system  is  in  motion,  seeking 
a  new  balance,  and  already  there  have  originated  higher 
claims  and  problems,  which  in  their  turn  are  struggling 
for  recognition. 

We  have  to  examine  the  spiritual  motive  forces  which 
preserve  the  existing  system  and  tend  to  prevent  the  inaugu- 
ration of  the  new  system  ;  their  volatilisation  and  spiritual- 
isation  will  become  plain.  We  must  discuss  inertia,  sensu- 
ality, passion,  vanity,  the  lust  of  power,  and  must  consider 
what  forces  will  counteract  these.  If  we  decide  that  the  new 
equilibrium  can  only  be  secured  through  the  permeation  of 
society  by  a  new  moral  consciousness,  this  will  confirm  our 
view  of  the  futility  of  the  theories  of  those  who  hope  that 
freedom  and  justice  will  issue  from  institutions,  who  opine 
that  the  contradictions  and  insubordinations  of  human 
nature  can  be  forcibly  abolished,  01  shuffled  out  of  the 
world  by  eloquence. 

Extensive  demands  are  here  made  upon  our  capacity 
for  change.  There  is  no  place  for  the  illusion  that  the 
goal  of  our  desires  can  be  reached  by  speedy  adaptation, 
by  premature  exemplars,  or  even  by  the  self-immolation 
of  a  few  individuals,  for  there  are  no  short  cuts  on  this  road. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  are  not  concerned  with  the  visionary 
possibilities  of  some  remote  epoch  in  future  history ;  the 
course  of  the  last  two  centuries  has  been  characterised  by 
greater  changes  in  consciousness  than  those  which  we  are 
now  demanding.  Out  of  serfs  who  kissed  the  hem  of  the 
lord's  garment  and  dreaded  the  lord's  whip,  there  have 
grown  those  who  in  part  are  men  inspired  with  civic  con- 
sciousness and  in  part  are  persons  organised  for  mutual 
combat.  Just  as  of  old,  in  thirty  years,  a  neglected  class  of 
the  impoverished  and  the  enslaved  originated  out  of  those 
who  had  been  sturdy  burghers  and  peasants ;  so,  in  thirty 
decades,  from  the  ruined  huts  and  devastated  cities  the 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     143 

spirits  oi  our  thinkers  and  investigators,  our  poets  and 
leaders,  have  blossomed.  Within  a  few  generations,  there 
has  come  into  being  in  Prussia  the  class  consciousness  of  the 
officials  and  army  officers,  a  moral  consciousness  unpre- 
cedented in  the  world's  history,  characterised  by  more 
splendid  simplicity  and  renunciation  than  are  requisite  to 
meet  any  of  the  demands  put  forward  in  this  book.  Within 
the  brief  space  of  a  single  war,  the  Spartan  spirit  of  the 
armed  nation,  with  all  its  merits  of  self -sacrifice  and  love  of 
honour,  has  been  diffused  throughout  the  country — a  greater 
upheaval  than  we  anticipate  on  behalf  of  the  transformation 
we  desire. 

However,  unalterable  the  deepest  stirrings  of  the  heart 
may  be,  however  unalterable  love  and  hate,  joy  and  sorrow, 
passion  and  intuition,  correspondingly  modifiable  are  valu- 
ations and  opinions,  the  choice  of  controlling  and  driving 
forces,  convictions.  But  it  is  from  these  latter  circling 
movements  that  arise  the  slow  transformations  leading  from 
animality  to  humanity,  from  humanity  to  divinity.  In 
comparison  thereto,  all  that  we  expect  is  no  more  than  one 
of  those  trifling  changes  in  values  and  in  will,  in  repressions 
and  encouragements,  that  have  been  manifest  ten  times 
over  during  the  two  millenniums  of  German  history. 

If  Germany  be  not  the  place  where  all  practical  activity 
must  be  regarded  as  nothing  other  than  the  expression  of 
transcendental  ethical  values  in  the  form  of  will,  we  have 
deceived  ourselves  as  to  Germany's  mission.  If  we  believe 
in  the  absolute  as  our  duty  and  our  right,  Kepler's  laws  are 
operative :  Human  impulses  and  inclinations  no  longer 
abide  motionless  and  impalpable  at  the  heart  of  the  prag- 
matic movement,  for  the  sun  of  transcendentalism  has 
now  become  the  centre  of  the  revolving  system,  and  the 
earth  and  the  planets  must  pursue  paths  imposed  upon  them 
by  primal  necessity. 

The  course  of  the  world  is  not  determined  by  the  arbitrary 
will  of  our  vanities.  Intuition  leads  the  way  ;  institutions 
follow  in  intuition's  train.  Between,  walks  humanity  along 
its  difficult  road  towards  sacrifice  and  freedom. 

Now,  therefore,  we  have  to  ascertain  what  change  in 
the  universal  moral  consciousness  awaits  us  as  antecedent 
and  accompaniment,  as  a  stream  of  tendency  carrying  us 


144    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

with  it  and  carried  with  us.  We  already  know  the  economic 
sacrifices  which  have  to  be  made.  We  must  renounce  a 
whole  series  of  venal  enjoyments ;  we  must  renounce  a 
notable  proportion  of  the  yield  derived  from  labour  or  from 
prescriptive  right ;  we  must  renounce  every  career  which 
attains  its  goal  by  facile  service  and  with  trifling  expenditure 
of  spirit  and  character ;  we  must  renounce  all  permanent 
economic  advantage  due  to  favourable  family  position. 

To  these  four  fundamental  demands  in  the  economic 
sphere,  there  correspond  counteracting  and  furthering  motive 
forces,  some  working  in  isolation  and  some  jointly.  Sensu- 
ality, ambition,  the  love  of  accumulation,  tend  mainly  to 
counteract  the  first  and  second  fundamental  demands ; 
ambition  and  family  pride  tend  to  counteract  the  third  and 
the  fourth ;  deficient  knowledge  of  human  nature  and 
deficient  skill  in  valuation  tend  to  counteract  the  third  ;  the 
lack  of  a  due  sense  of  the  state  and  the  community  tends 
to  counteract  all  four. 

No  detailed  treatment  of  sensuality,  inertia,  and  love 
of  ease,  will  be  undertaken.  Not  that  we  regard  these 
impelling  or  counteracting  motives  as  unalterable ;  but  in 
their  essential  nature  they  are  so  closely  akin  to  the  physical, 
that  they  are  affected  no  more  than  indirectly  by  the 
influence  of  intuition.  All  the  more  urgently  necessary  is 
it  that  we  should  study  the  genus  of  power  motives,  the 
really  evil  powers  in  the  human  heart. 

The  good  powers  say  :  I  will  do  and  be.  The  bad  powers 
say  :  I  will  have  and  seem. 

What  would  you  have  ?  First  of  all,  what  suffices. 
What  mitigates  poverty,  stills  sensuality,  shortens  labour, 
strengthens  freedom.  So  far,  so  good.  If  sensuality  and 
inertia  be  not  excessive,  if  the  freedom  you  seek  be  akin 
to  the  inward  balance,  these  things  do  not  amount  to  much. 
The  world  could  spare  three-fourths  of  its  present  pains  were 
everyone  to  be  content  with  such  a  fate. 

What  more  do  you  desire  ?  That  which  furnishes 
security.  That  which,  for  as  long  as  possible,  for  as  far  as 
can  be  seen  into  the  future,  will  guarantee  the  enjoyment 
of  these  primary  goods  for  me  and  mine.  Wherefore  this  ? 
Because  I  am  working  for  the  future,  and  because  I  dread 
what  the  future  may  bring. 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     145 

A  prudent  foresight  to  guard  against  the  risks  of  illness 
and  old  age  is  reasonable  enough  while  the  inadequacy  of 
our  social  system  is  such  that  the  just  claims  of  the  invalided 
and  the  old  are  shamefully  ignored.  In  our  wealthy  epoch, 
it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  provide  all  that  is  requisite 
under  these  heads.  But  here  for  the  first  time  we  encounter 
the  reek  of  the  pit ;  we  encounter  fear,  the  source  of  all  evil, 
the  primal  curse,  the  heritage  of  animality,  the  differentia 
between  ignobility  and  nobility  of  blood. 

You  have  a  sufficiency  and  you  have  security ;  what 
more  do  you  want  ?  I  want  what  others  go  short  of.  What 
makes  an  impression  upon  people,  what  arouses  envy,  what 
gives  prestige,  what  confers  power.  Why  ?  I  do  not  know. 

True,  you  do  not  know.  For  all  the  words  you  could 
utter — ambition,  love  of  accumulation,  lust  of  dominion, 
will  to  power — are  but  a  periphrasis  for  the  same  enigma. 
This  darkest  element  in  human  nature  is  so  widespread,  so 
deeply  rooted,  so  unfathomable,  that  we  no  longer  regard 
it  as  problematical.  We  accept  it  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Let  us  not  confuse  the  vain  longings  of  ambition,  lust  of 
power,  envy,  and  pretentiousness,  with  the  splendid  energy 
of  will  which  creates  and  arranges,  which  rules  by  serving 
and  serves  by  ruling  ;  with  the  organic  force  of  responsibility, 
which  finds  repose  in  leadership,  and  yet  only  so  far  as  it  can 
bow  itself  to  a  higher  law  and  a  higher  nature  ;  with  the 
force  of  self-sacrifice,  which  bestows  itself  and  receives 
ungrudging  tribute,  not  to  enjoy,  but  to  confer  unsullied 
gifts  upon  the  circulation  of  necessary  order.  If  to  this 
creative  energy  we  give  the  name  responsibility,  and  if  to 
the  vain  desire  for  the  signs  and  semblances  of  power  (that 
we  may  avoid  overloading  the  ambiguous  term  ambition) 
we  give  the  name  of  greed  for  power,  the  question  runs : 
How  did  it  come  to  pass  that  the  greed  for  power  originated, 
and  that  it  subjugated  the  world  to  such  a  degree  that 
slavery  grew  up  in  its  name  ? 

Those  with  an  intimate  knowledge  of  nations  and  races, 
experts  in  the  study  of  hereditary  qualities,  might  contend 
that  this  greed  for  power  can  arise  only  in  timid  individuals 
and  timid  stocks.  It  would  seem,  we  shall  be  told,  that  the 
only  hope  of  the  timid  when  writhing  under  the  heel  of  the 
oppressor,  is  that  they  may  some  day  be  able  to  reverse 

10 


146    IN        DAYS        TO        GOME 

the  situation,  and  may  be  able  to  set  their  own  heel  on 
the  oppressor's  neck.  In  like  manner,  inordinate  ambition 
develops  in  talented  children  when  they  are  grossly  ill- 
treated.  Such  experts  might  declare  that  bitter  memories 
of  former  enslavement  were  responsible  for  the  mental 
characteristics  of  the  tyrannical,  ignoring  the  fact  that  greed 
for  power  is  rarely  associated  with  lack  of  virility.  They 
might  explain  how  the  uprising  and  the  mingling  of  the  lower 
strata  of  the  populations  of  Europe  has  brought  the  timid 
qualities  into  the  foreground  and  has  permeated  the  tissue 
of  mankind  as  a  historical  entity. 

These  historical  experts  might  be  answered  as  follows  : 
The  world-wide  phenomenon  which,  outwardly  regarded, 
we  have  termed  mechanisation,  must  produce  an  inward 
tone  of  feeling,  a  time  sentiment  and  a  world  sentiment,  no 
less  narrow,  hard,  and  erroneous  than  is  the  movement  of 
mechanisation  itself.  The  flier  and  the  swimmer  are  animated 
with  the  sensation  of  soaring  or  of  buoyancy,  the  traveller 
has  a  feeling  of  restful  haste.  The  affect  of  mechanisation 
is  the  greed  for  power ;  the  radiations  of  this  affect  are 
inquisitiveness,  love  of  money,  fault-finding,  scepticism, 
and  disparagement. 

It  will  be  enough  for  us  to  emphasise  that  we  regard 
the  greed  for  power  as  the  practical  denial  of  all  transcen- 
dentalism. One  who  finds  the  essence  of  being  in  the  sem- 
blance to  which  we  give  the  name  of  reality,  can  imagine  an 
arrogant  happiness,  can  imagine  himself  subjugating,  owning, 
and  dominating  this  wonderful  medley  of  colours,  tones,  and 
stimuli,  much  as  a  child  longs  to  have  the  star  and  the 
butterfly  in  his  grasping  and  destructive  hands.  But  one 
for  whom  the  meaning  of  existence  lies  outside  and  above 
the  phenomenal,  cannot  give  himself  up  to  any  such  destruc- 
tive pursuit.  He  feels  that  possession  destroys  when  it  is 
anything  and  desires  to  be  anything  other  than  duty  and 
guardianship ;  that  power  corrupts  when  it  is  anything  and 
desires  to  be  anything  other  than  responsibility.  He  knows 
that  his  most  sacred  energies  must  not  degenerate  into  the 
voluptuousness  of  a  dream  ;  he  knows  that  the  abyss  of  non- 
existence  awaits  one  who  repudiates  the  service  of  the  world 
and  scorns  the  service  of  the  overworld. 

Elsewhere  it  has  been  shown  that  morality  consists  in 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     147 

a  condition  rather  than  in  actions.  To  find  the  will's  centre 
of  gravity  in  the  soul's  sphere,  to  find  rest  for  the  spirit  in 
the  transcendental,  to  follow  the  urge  towards  the  divine — 
these  things  are  at  once  morality  and  blessedness.  Within 
the  realm  of  this  steadfastness,  action  is  no  longer  ponder- 
able ;  the  only  thing  that  counts  is  the  bona  voluntas  of  the 
sentiments 

The  lust  for  power,  measured  by  the  standard  of  sentiment, 
declares  it  to  be  right  for  a  man  to  thrust  himself  into  the 
order  of  creation  that  he  may  defame  what  he  can  neither 
create  nor  cherish ;  it  is  right  to  degrade  men  and  things 
that  they  may  become  means  to  others'  ends,  to  decide 
claims  to  vital  space  under  the  influence  of  passion,  to 
assert  a  divine  right  of  guardianship  over  persons  of  full 
age.  Envy  declares  that  in  her  fellow  men  she  has  discerned 
the  deadly  germ  of  unsatiated  earthly  wishes,  a  pitiful 
blindness  towards  the  eternal,  a  consuming  jealousy.  She 
wishes  to  stimulate  and  foster  this  sickness,  until  an  out- 
break of  embitterment  or  servility  destroys  the  dignity  of 
the  image  of  God  and  pays  allegiance  to  the  hostile  power. 
She  thrives  upon  human  weakness  and  upon  the  exploitation 
of  men  until  their  very  souls  are  destroyed.  She  has  uttered 
her  judgment,  and  she  stands  beside  her  sister,  Malice,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  pit. 

The  most  terrible  unreality,  even  when  contemplated 
under  the  cold  light  of  daily  reality,  gives  evidence  of  the 
antinomy  of  the  twin  forces,  ownership  and  power. 

What  is  ownership,  apart  from  bodily  comfort  and 
sensual  gratification  ?  It  is  an  array  of  things  which  at 
will  can  be  moved  from  place  to  place,  locked  up,  destroyed, 
or  exchanged  for  other  things,  that  in  their  turn  can  be 
moved  about,  locked  up,  and  destroyed.  A  dead  life  is 
acquired  by  these  things,  which  the  owner  knows  and  in  a 
sense  possesses  only  when  they  are  comparatively  few  in 
number,  only  when  they  exercise  an  influence  upon  others ; 
they  acquire  a  living  life  when  they  are  used  creatively, 
administratively,  and  with  a  due  sense  of  responsibility. 
In  that  case,  however,  they  lose  the  quality  of  ownership ; 
they  become  goods  held  in  trust ;  they  are  emanations  of 
their  maker,  and  need  not  belong  to  him ;  they  belong  to 
the  owner,  and  yet  they  are  not  his  things.  The  idea  of 


148    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

ownership  grows  irrelevant.  The  forest  belongs  to  the 
forester,  not  to  the  commune ;  the  beautiful  countryside 
belongs  to  the  wayfarer,  not  to  the  landowner ;  the  gallery 
belongs  to  the  lover  of  art,  not  to  the  public  authority. 
The  statue  is  for  ever  the  sculptor's,  not  the  purchaser's. 

Power !  Let  us  ignore  the  privilege  of  more  convenient 
approaches,  the  gratification  of  not  being  excluded  from 
certain  indifferent  circles ;  there  remain  the  shameful  forms 
and  formulas  of  those  who  perforce  or  self-abasingly  pay 
homage  to  the  man  of  might ;  for  the  most  part  because  they 
want  something  which  they  cannot  create  for  themselves. 
Upon  whom  is  it  that  the  crowd  lavishes  its  adulations 
when  one  who  enjoys  a  public  triumph  is  passing.  A  human 
shell  on  horseback  or  in  a  carriage,  bowing  to  right  and  to 
left.  The  man  sits  as  in  a  dream,  while  there  breaks  upon 
his  senses  a  wave  concerning  whose  form  and  meaning  he 
knows  nothing.  Mouth  and  ear  remain  eternally  estranged  ; 
at  eventide,  ere  he  falls  asleep,  he  is  as  completely  alone  with 
God  as  is  the  lowliest  of  his  followers.  Love  alone  can  save 
power  from  its  isolation  ;  but  woe  to  the  man  of  might 
should  he  mistake  for  love  the  asseverations  of  those  whose 
aim  it  is  to  get  something  out  of  him  ;  feeling  himself  to  be 
despised,  feeling  himself  likewise  degraded  to  become  the 
means  to  others'  ends,  he  lavishes  with  a  dissembled  faith 
in  order  to  save  his  own  face.  We  say  nothing  of  that 
unreality  whereby  the  relativity  of  power  is  revealed  to  its 
holder  too  late,  the  unreality  which  makes  him  increasingly 
dependent  the  higher  he  rises,  increasingly  dependent 
alike  on  his  superiors  and  his  inferiors,  so  that  at  last  the 
tyrant  is  wholly  in  the  power  of  the  mob  out  of  which  he  has 
arisen.  During  the  ascent  he  was  doubly  despised  :  hated 
by  those  above  whom  he  climbed,  scorned  by  those  towards 
whose  heights  he  aspired. 

As  of  ownership,  so  of  power,  nothing  is  left  but  responsible 
creation  ;  and,  once  more,  this  creation  has  no  need  of  power, 
for  the  creator  has  power  uncoveted.  Creation  enjoys  all 
the  forms  which  delight  the  lover  of  power,  all  the  forms 
with  which  the  lover  of  power  would  fain  rest  content ;  while 
creation  is  spared  the  cares,  the  pains,  and  the  toils,  which 
the  lover  of  power  abhors.  The  realm  of  power  is  replaced 
by  the  sphere  of  action ;  instead  of  dominion,  there  is 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     149 

responsibility  ;  instead  of  intoxication,  guardianship.  Where 
power  fulfils  itself,  it  neutralises  itself. 

Just  as  the  passions  of  lust  for  power  and  avarice  are 
aimless,  so  likewise  are  they  fruitless.  They  are  practically 
unreal  no  less  than  they  are  conceptually  unreal. 

As  long  as  the  most  brutal  ignorance  of  humanity  con- 
tinues to  dominate  civilisation,  it  may  and  will  happen  that 
persons  who  bear  upon  their  foreheads  and  their  whole 
frames,  plainly  recognisable  by  every  pure  eye,  the  speciem 
reprobationis,  the  mark  of  depravity,  that  men  whose  words, 
aspect,  and  whole  behaviour  display  at  the  first  glance  that 
they  are  mean  and  spiritually  dead,  will  find  all  the  roads 
to  respect  and  confidence  freely  open  to  them,  whereas 
noble-minded  persons  who  happen  to  lack  the  wisdom  of 
the  serpent,  are  despised  and  rejected,  buffeted  by  fortune, 
and  perish  ignominiously.  While  this  mob  blindness  pre- 
vails, the  covetous  will  continue  to  push  forward  with  their 
appropriate  means  of  shamelessness,  falsehood,  cunning, 
pushfulness,  loquacity,  obsequiousness,  and  sordid  activity  ; 
and,  when  they  have  attained  their  ends,  will  continue  to 
be  hailed  as  exemplars  of  wisdom,  resourcefulness,  and 
vigour.  Yet  even  in  the  realm  of  uncontrolled  mechanisa- 
tion, amid  the  unbridled  play  of  the  forces  of  our  age,  such 
an  individual  can  make  no  further  progress  ;  he  cannot 
attain  to  objective  creation  ;  he  cannot  serve  the  world. 
His  possessions  may  grow,  and  his  power  may  increase  ;  but 
what  he  covets  in  the  last  resort,  the  necessity  for  his  par- 
ticular existence,  still  eludes  his  grasp.  However  noxious 
he  may  be,  owing  to  his  claims  upon  space,  however  disas- 
trous the  corruption  with  which  he  envenoms  public  life, 
however  essential  it  may  be  that  we  should  defend  ourselves 
against  him  and  his  deeds,  nevertheless,  the  ultimate  sanc- 
tuary of  responsible  power  needs  no  protection,  for  it  belongs 
to  its  loyal  servitors,  to  the  strength  of  renunciation,  and 
to  the  creative  force  of  imagination. 

Is  it,  then,  rash  to  maintain  that  these  prime  factors 
of  the  mechanistic  world-movement,  the  passion  for  power 
and  the  passion  for  ownership,  are  mortal,  nay  more,  that, 
despite  the  ardours  of  their  present  noon-day  flourishing, 
they  are  now  actually  moribund  ;  is  it  presumptuous  to 
desire  their  death  ?  Would  it  not,  rather,  be  far  more  pre- 


150     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

sumptuous  to  believe  that  the  lying  forces,  which  we  have 
recognised  to  be  thoroughly  evil  in  their  trend,  to  be  radically 
vicious,  to  be  unreal  and  ineffective,  will  nevertheless  be 
permitted  for  all  time  to  befool  and  to  enslave  the  human 
race  when  that  race  has  recognised  their  futility  ?  If  we 
are  not  entitled  to  believe  that  intuition  and  the  ethical  will 
can  deliver  us  from  the  burden  of  acquired  sin  and  inherited 
slavery,  then  there  remains  for  the  moral  dreamer  no  more 
than  Hobson's  choice — quietly  and  promptly  to  seek  an 
exit  from  the  world. 

At  this  juncture  many  will  say,  How  can  an  aging 
humanity  be  altered  ?  Have  we  ever  seen  any  passion 
surrendered  ? 

Let  us  answer,  We  have  seen  a  greater  thing  than  this. 
We  have  experienced  many  a  vicissitude  of  good  and  of 
evil ;  we  have  seen  come  and  go  human  sacrifices,  the 
murder  of  the  aged,  the  exposure  of  infants,  incest,  idolatry, 
vendetta,  and  sexual  malpractices  of  every  kind.  At  all 
times,  every  passion,  every  sin,  every  folly,  is  slumbering 
in  man  ;  every  one  of  them  can  be  awakened  and  every  one 
controlled.  They  are  controlled  by  individuals ;  by  the 
base  through  fear,  by  the  noble  through  spirituality  ;  by  the 
community  they  are  controlled  through  the  moral  con- 
sciousness. Ever  anew,  therefore,  is  the  statement  heard, 
Our  own  time  lacks  guidance  ;  the  crying  evil  of  our  day  is 
that,  out  of  the  dying  memories  of  the  ages,  it  vamps  up  for 
itself  a  conscience  that  lacks  conviction.  An  appeal  is  made 
for  a  new  philosophy,  competent  to  produce  the  requisite 
tension  of  the  new  coordinating  forces.  Is  everyone  in  these 
days  who  makes  the  sacrifice  of  love  and  of  life,  in  his  inner- 
most soul  and  in  his  very  nature  a  hero  and  a  lover  ?  If 
he  be  not,  he  learns  to  be,  and  owes  his  teaching  to  the 
directing  forces  of  a  community  which  is  strong  enough, 
in  a  crisis,  to  command  sacrifices.  What  free  will  cannot 
effect,  intuition,  broadening  out  to  a  universal  judgment 
of  values,  can  effect.  The  conscience  of  the  community, 
which  to-day  despises  only  falsehood  and  cowardice,  will 
to-morrow  condemn  lust  of  power  and  avarice,  pleasure- 
seeking  and  vanity,  envy  and  baseness.  Not  so  speedily 
will  individuals  free  themselves  from  these  vices,  and  yet 
their  dominion  is  broken.  That  which  to-day  struts  proudly, 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     151 

will  to-morrow  be  leading  a  scared  life.  The  world  has  been 
freed,  and  its  freedom  has  in  every  soul  a  formative  and 
creative  influence. 

The  world  is  truly  free,  for  all  the  bitterness  of  struggle 
has  gone  from  the  world.  Let  us  not  forget  that  that  which 
poisons  life  is  not  the  struggle  for  life,  but  the  struggle  for 
the  superfluous,  the  struggle  for  nullities. 

If  we  quench  the  two  fires  which  supply  the  motive 
forces  to  the  pursuit  of  false  joys,  we  bring  relaxation  to 
every  limb  of  the  convulsed  body  of  mankind.  There  will 
be  an  end  to  the  fierce  belief  in  money,  which  leads  everyone 
to  defend  and  secrete  his  possessions  and  his  gains  as  the 
holy  of  holies  of  his  life.  Air  and  water  are  more  indispen- 
sable than  money,  and  yet  they  are  free,  gladly  provided 
and  gladly  given,  because  no  one  has  a  passionate  dread 
lest  he  should  go  short  of  these  elements,  no  one  is  fool 
enough  to  hoard  them,  and  no  one  takes  any  trouble  to  secure 
them.  The  faith  in  money  demands  that  we  should  thank- 
fully accept  a  draught  of  water,  and  indignantly  reject  a 
coin  which  is  not  earned.  If  we  draw  the  wherewithal  of 
life  dispassionately  and  moderately  as  we  draw  water  from 
an  uncontaminated  source,  the  faith  in  money  will  pass 
away. 

Such  drawings  will  become  easy  and  free  when  as 
individuals  we  no  longer  greedily  demand  superfluities,  and 
when  we  no  longer  find  that  the  greed  of  others  leads  them 
to  drink  all  the  sources  dry  because  they  are  constrained 
to  squander  a  third  of  the  world's  labour  upon  trash  and 
gauds.  A  reflective  person  is  horrified  when  he  walks  the 
streets  and  studies  the  shop  windows.  Utterly  hideous, 
produced  to  satisfy  vulgar  tastes,  foolish  and  harmful,  null 
and  perishable,  is  for  the  most  part  what  he  will  see  care- 
fully stored,  brilliantly  exposed  for  sale,  and  offered  at  high 
prices.  Is  it  true  and  is  it  possible  that  millions  must  slave 
to  make,  to  transport,  and  to  sell  these  things,  to  provide 
and  to  collect  the  machinery  and  the  raw  materials  requisite 
to  produce  them  ;  that  other  millions  must  slave  in  order 
to  be  able  to  buy  such  horrors  ;  and  that  yet  other  millions 
covet  them  and  are  reluctantly  compelled  to  forgo  them  ? 
Great  must  be  the  faith  of  those  who  continue  to  believe  in 
a  race  which  lives  by  such  things  and  for  such  things.  What 


152    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

do  people  do  with  them  ?  They  store  them  in  their  houses, 
consume  more  of  them  than  they  need,  hang  them  on  their 
bodies,  stick  them  in  their  hair  and  in  their  ears,  fill  their 
pockets  with  them,  put  them  into  circulation  for  a  second 
and  a  third  time  by  way  of  the  secondhand  dealer,  the 
auction  room,  and  the  pawnbroker's,  and  finally  ship  off 
to  Africa  whatever  has  not  found  an  end  or  a  renewal  on 
the  dust  heap  or  in  the  smelting  furnace.  What  does  civilised 
mankind  aim  at  with  this  ridiculous  craving  for  commodities, 
this  greed  for  purchasable  things  ?  To  some  degree,  comfort, 
and  the  stimulation  of  the  senses.  But  more  than  all  he 
aims  at  display,  and  yet  again  display.  Anything  for  a  show. 
The  buyer  has  somewhere  seen  an  article  which  pleased  him, 
and  wants  just  such  another  for  himself ;  if  not  exactly 
alike,  it  must  be  a  passable  imitation.  One  must  make 
an  impression  ;  others  must  stare  enviously.  It  is  enjoyable 
to  appear  richer  than  we  are,  for,  according  to  the  detestable 
convention  of  the  day,  wealth  brings  honour. 

This  itch  for  the  status  of  fools  and  the  joy  of  slaves 
cannot  last  for  ever.  It  is  not  everlasting.  Were  it  so, 
there  would  be  no  further  hope  that  the  world  would  ever 
know  an  upright  and  worthy  race  of  men.  It  is  not  ever- 
lasting Enough  that  the  futility  of  venal  and  impure 
joys,  that  an  intuition  of  their  radical  shamefulness  and 
badness,  should  awaken  in  a  few  thousand  breasts,  for  then 
the  Devil's  flower  falls  to  pieces.  Joy  in  the  beauties  which 
no  one  covets,  now  awakens  ;  nature  and  pure  art,  the  power 
and  the  glory  o.  the  human  body,  the  honour  of  the  spirit 
and  the  worship  of  the  divine,  become  truth ;  the  chaotic 
rubbish,  which  would  shame  us  in  the  eyes  of  our  grand- 
children, will  flee  to  dark  continents,  where  it  may  while 
away  its  time  until  the  judgment  day. 

With  some  hesitation,  we  modify  this  confident  note 
by  an  observation  which  need  not  wholly  dishearten  us, 
but  nevertheless  deserves  serious  consideration.  I  refer 
to  woman. 

In  other  writings  I  have  described  how  completely  the 
life  of  woman  has  been  undermined  by  mechanisation.  A 
century  ago  the  domestic  avocations  of  the  middle-class 
woman  came  to  an  end.  Owing  to  the  division  of  labour, 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     153 

spinning  and  weaving,  the  provision  of  clothing,  light, 
warmth,  and  food  passed  out  of  her  hands  ;  gardening  arid 
farm  work  were  finished  as  far  as  she  was  concerned  ;  there 
remained  only  housekeeping  activities,  education,  and 
cooking.  Increase  in  wellbeing  created  the  bourgeois  lady  ; 
work  was  replaced  by  culture.  In  the  higher  circles  there 
now  appeared  the  beginnings  of  society  life.  Neighbourly 
talk  in  the  streets,  the  relaxation  of  popular  festivals,  invaded 
the  houses,  whose  rooms  were  opened  to  social  intercourse. 
The  workshop  and  the  office  were  divorced  from  the  home  ; 
the  working  hours  grew  longer ;  the  business  man,  the 
official  employee,  and  the  man  of  learning,  began  to  spend 
the  whole  day  away  from  the  dwelling ;  the  enduring  com- 
munity of  the  household  was  broken  up. 

Now  an  external  and  an  internal  domain  came  into 
existence  :  the  external,  where  the  livelihood  was  gained, 
was  ruled  by  man  ;  the  internal,  where  domestic  life  was 
ordered  and  maintained,  was  taken  over  by  woman.  She 
became  mistress  of  domesticity  ;  she  was  the  administratrix  ; 
and,  as  prescribed  by  the  monetary  economy,  she  was  the 
purchaser.  The  man  earned,  the  woman  spent.  In  earlier 
days,  it  occasionally  happened  that  some  kitchen  utensil, 
in  rare  instances  an  article  of  clothing  or  a  piece  of  furniture, 
was  bought  by  the  wife  ;  handicraftsmen  and  other  work- 
men had  to  do  with  the  husband.  To-day  the  wife  is  the 
purchaser,  almost  exclusively  and  unremittingly.  The  shops, 
streets,  and  public  vehicles  of  our  towns  are  filled  with 
women  ;  it  is  they  who  order  goods  and  keep  accounts,  they 
who  furnish  and  provide,  they  who  construct. 

The  terrible  decay  of  the  handicrafts  during  the  last 
eighty  years,  a  decay  which  the  most  arduous  efforts  have 
been  unable  to  prevent,  has  not  been  the  fault  so  much  of 
machinery  as  of  women  buyers.  Woman  lacks  appreciative 
insight  for  craftsmanship  ;  for  the  good,  the  useful,  and  the 
genuine  ;  above  all,  for  proportion  and  artistry.  Further- 
more, she  fails  as  regards  a  steadfast  will  for  the  essential, 
as  regards  fixity  of  resolve.  She  is  influenced  by  casual 
stimuli,  by  a  specious  appearance  of  solidity,  by  bargains, 
glitter,  false  reckonings,  and  by  the  glib  tongue  of  the  sales- 
man. All  the  worst  customs  of  retail  trade  are  the  outcome 
of  the  qualities  of  women  purchasers.  Things  which  enrage 


154    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

a  man  who  is  driven  by  misadventure  into  this  shop  or  that, 
are  for  the  most  part  customary  speculations  upon  the 
weaknesses  of  feminine  customers.  Here  we  can  make  only 
passing  mention  of  that  which  is  more  fully  expounded 
elsewhere,  namely,  that  art  and  the  appreciation  of  art  have 
inevitably  pursued  the  same  downward  path  since  man 
relinquished  to  woman  the  guardianship  of  culture  ;  since 
theatres  and  concert  rooms,  art  galleries  and  lecture  halls 
became  woman's  province  ;  since  woman  became  the  chief 
reader  of  books  and  periodicals,  the  chief  patron  of  art. 
The  sterile  sentimentalism  of  our  literature  during  the  post 
romanticist  epoch  was  the  first  fruit  of  the  lady's  boudoir. 
It  may  well  be  that  the  unconscious  recognition  of  this 
relationship  explains  the  antifeminism  of  the  two  last  free 
spirits  of  our  time,  Schopenhauer  and  Nietzsche. 

In  the  course  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  through  the 
working  of  the  new  economic  system,  women  were  suddenly, 
and  forcibly  thrust  into  unprecedented  situations.  Driven 
from  the  seclusion  of  the  home,  burdened  with  culture,  taking 
her  place  amid  the  mercenary  activities  of  social  intercourse, 
forced  to  accept  the  duties  of  a  more  active  life,  adopting 
in  many  instances  masculine  occupations,  women  have 
had  to  meet  the  most  comprehensive  demands  ever  imposed 
on  unprepared  human  nature.  Woman  rose  to  the  occa- 
sion, and  has  impressed  upon  our  century  the  type  of  the 
masculinised  female. 

Undesirable  accompaniments  were  inevitable.  The 
motherly  strength  of  woman's  nature  has  not  been  enhanced 
by  her  activities  as  purchaser,  by  the  life  of  the  streets,  by 
self-determination.  Meretricious  tendencies,  previously  kept 
in  check  by  man,  developed.  An  unedifying  product  of 
our  civilisation  appeared,  the  woman  of  luxury.  Now  that 
the  protective  duties  were  in  abeyance,  the  old-time  cere- 
monial duties  of  noble  dames  were  extinct.  Such  graces 
were  despised  and  derided.  In  the  social  life  of  the  newly 
enriched  there  was  a  demand  for  unrestricted  entertainment, 
where  wealth  could  be  displayed  and  where  social  advantages 
could  be  harvested.  Disastrous  and  impudent  display 
came  to  be  regarded  as  a  duty  ;  it  was  a  heartless  amuse- 
ment, a  business,  a  life  in  itself.  This  life  was  filled  with 
concern  for  spacious  apartments,  trains  of  servants,  adorn- 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     155 

ment,  dress,  hyper-fastidious  care  of  the  body,  lavish 
hospitality,  distinguished  guests.  Excitement  was  provided 
by  profitable  amours.  Horses,  sport,  travel,  decadent  art, 
supplied  the  topic  of  conversation.  A  specious  justification 
for  existence  was  furnished  by  pitiful  benefactions,  court 
life,  and  political  cabals  The  work  of  education  and  house- 
keeping was  entrusted  to  paid  assistants.  Apart  from  the 
counselling  of  her  husband  where  joint  interests  were 
involved,  the  wife's  duties  were  restricted  to  childbearing 
twice  or  thrice,  under  anaesthesia. 

For  women  at  the  summit  of  the  mechanistic  social 
ladder,  this  abject  life  was  tolerated  and  even  glorified.  At 
the  lower  levels  were  toil  and  prostitution  ;  midway  on  the 
ascent,  anxiety  and  calculation  ;  at  the  top,  display,  culture, 
and  the  grasping  at  masculine  occupations.  The  degenerate 
products  of  mechanised  life  have  influenced  the  very  nature 
of  our  women.  They  have  cultivated  greed,  love  of  display, 
swagger,  and  coquetry — qualities  which  in  the  Germany  of 
earlier  days  were  known  only  in  the  form  of  innocent  and 
speedily  controlled  feminine  follies.  The  moral  consequences 
of  these  defects  are  grave  ;  their  economic  and  social  con- 
sequences are  immeasurably  grave.  We  sacrifice  the  daily 
and  nightly  toil  of  millions  to  women's  envy  of  their  neigh- 
bours, to  the  lascivious  glances  of  the  passer-by,  to  the  com- 
plaisance of  men.  What  is  offered  for  sale  in  our  shops  ? 
In  addition  to  tobacco  and  strong  drink,  we  find  things 
which  women  buy ;  needless,  hideous,  gimcrack  articles, 
which  one  person  buys  because  another  has  already  bought 
them,  because  they  are  fashionable,  because  the  buyer  has 
seen  pictures  of  such  things  or  has  seen  them  in  fine  houses, 
because  the  buyer  must  have  them,  because  they  are  cheap, 
because  they  are  wonderful  bargains.  Flimsy  finery,  designed 
for  the  purposes  of  sensual  display,  and  wearable  for  just 
so  long  as  the  slightness  of  the  material  and  the  will  of  the 
fashionmonger  permit.  Nameless  things,  "  articles  "  bought 
for  the  sake  of  buying,  and  given  away  that  the  buyer  may 
be  quit  of  them.  All  this  trash  is  subject  to  the  laws  of 
fashion,  to  the  periodical  recognition  that  it  is  utterly 
valueless,  and  must  therefore  be  replaced  in  accordance 
with  the  continued  working  of  the  same  law. 

These  vanities  could  be  tolerated  while  they  still  remained 


156    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

private  affairs  of  a  foolish  domestic  economy.  But  to-day, 
when  we  have  recognised  that  hunger  for  commodities,  the 
lust  of  the  shopper,  are  cancers  of  our  national  economic 
life,  it  has  become  a  matter  of  state  and  a  primary  aim  for 
mankind  that  a  remedy  should  be  found. 

We  should  wrong  the  dignity  of  women  if,  with  a  tolerant 
smile,  we  should  refuse  to  make  them  responsible  for  the 
distresses  of  the  age.  We  must  declare  to  them  that,  while 
inconspicuously  they  may  do  good  works  to  dry  the  tears 
of  those  who  suffer,  such  sufferings  are  magnified  a  hundred- 
fold by  the  futilities  which  are  daily  brought  to  their  houses 
in  boxes,  in  parcels,  and  in  vehicles. 

For  every  defect  in  man,  his  mother  is  to  blame  ;  for 
every  error  and  lapse  in  woman,  her  lover  or  husband  is 
to  blame.  The  boy  outgrows  the  mother  ;  his  earlier  errors 
are  irrecoverable.  Woman  remains  plastic  in  the  hands 
of  love ;  to  woman,  heaven's  gate  of  repentance  is  never 
closed.  Knowledge,  the  world,  inner  voices,  remain  avail- 
able to  man  ;  these  things  make  him  responsible  ;  his  blame 
is  the  greater.  The  erring  woman  can  lodge  complaints 
against  man,  and  the  most  grievous  charge  of  all  is  the 
terrible,  the  uprooted  confusion  of  woman's  quest. 

By  the  mechanisation  of  life,  man  has  torn  his  companion 
out  of  the  protective  environment  of  domestic  life,  has  driven 
her  into  the  world  and  the  market-place,  has  wrenched  the 
key  from  her  hand  and  given  her  a  purse  instead.  He  has 
given  her  the  choice  between  mercenary  calculation,  coquetry, 
public  activity,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  lonely  life  on  the 
other.  Not  the  domestic  tyrant,  the  egoist,  the  slave- 
driver,  has  committed  the  greatest  crime,  but  the  wedded 
idler,  who  has  led  her  astray  into  an  empty  life  of  amuse- 
ment, of  delight  in  material  things,  of  lust  for  pleasure  ;  who, 
awakening  the  undifferentiated  womanliness  which  slumbers 
in  every  female  breast,  corrupts  it  to  meretriciousness,  and 
thus  kills  the  soul.  Man  is  to  blame  for  the  fact  that 
negroid  primitive  passions,  which  have  been  held  in  check 
for  thousands  of  years,  have  been  revived  in  the  feminine 
life  of  our  own  day,  passions  to  read  of  which  will  arouse 
shame  and  horror  in  the  minds  of  our  descendants. 

We  have  to  thank  women  inasmuch  as  their  eager  quest 
has  diffused  a  movement  which  errs  solely  in  respect  of  its 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     157 

aim.  It  behoves  us  to  clarify  this  aim,  which  is  not  grounded 
upon  outward  dominion.  We  must  not  enforce  a  return 
to  the  neglected  farm  and  garden,  to  the  antiquated  distaff 
and  loom,  any  more  than  we  should  advocate  an  advance 
to  the  pulpit  and  the  judicial  bench.  The  first  goal  is  the 
transformation  to  a  higher  humanity,  the  inculcation  of  a 
contempt  for  purchasable  happiness,  foolish  display,  and 
contemptible  idleness ;  the  final  goal  is  the  winning  of 
responsibility  for  the  inner  happiness  and  ordering  of  the 
universal  human  household.  The  more  unmistakably  welfare 
and  education  the  care  for  life  and  its  adornment,  become 
social  responsibilities,  the  purer  and  more  significant  will 
become  woman's  new  duties.  If  the  content  of  these  duties 
remains  womanly  and  in  the  highest  sense  natural,  we  need 
not  be  alarmed  at  the  forms  which  these  duties  may  assume, 
even  should  they  involve  organisation,  careful  upbuilding, 
concatenation. 

We  have  now  to  examine  the  last  of  the  motive  forces 
which  combine  to  effect  the  Impulsion  of  our  mechanistic 
system  ;  the  self-will  of  the  family  stock. 

We  need  not  consider  the  error  of  those  who,  down  to 
the  day  of  their  own  death,  keep  their  children  on  short 
commons,  those  who  would  prefer  to  transmit  their  property 
to  unknown  grandchildren,  and  who  attempt  to  justify 
their  miserliness  as  care  for  posterity.  Nor  need  we  consider 
the  posthumous  vanity  of  those  whose  chief  delight  during 
life  is  to  picture  to  themselves  the  astonishment  that  will 
ensue  upon  the  reading  of  their  will.  The  only  kind  of  family 
pride  which  is  worthy  of  our  opposition  is  the  nobler  form 
which  shows  itself  as  delight  in  the  preservation  of  a  famous 
name,  in  jubilant  memories  of  the  great  deeds  of  progeni- 
tors, in  loving  care  for  the  family  fortunes  and  the  family 
happiness 

For  more  than  a  thousand  years  European  society  has 
been  split  into  two  strata.  Germany  can  hardly  be  called 
a  nation,  or  even  a  state.  But  a  ruling  nobility,  a  dominant 
patriciate,  must  remain  a  close  corporation ;  the  mingling 
of  its  blood  is  destruction,  its  impoverishment  is  ruin.  In 
France  during  the  eighteenth  century  the  perishing  nobility 
took  its  revenge  in  the  use,  for  the  bourgeoisie  and  the  serfs, 


158     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

of  the  contemptuous  names  "  roture  "  and  "  canaille."  It 
would  seem  that  the  time  has  now  come  for  us  to  feel  our- 
selves a  nation.  There  are  moments  when  the  sentiment 
of  community  is  powerful.  As  we  contemplate  our  armies 
marching  and  dying,  a  unifying  love  wells  up  in  our  hearts, 
and  we  are  fascinated  by  the  dream  of  a  perfect  union.  It 
remains  a  dream,  for  the  two  nations  do  not  unite.  We 
are  ruled  by  the  nobility,  by  a  nobility  arrogant  in  its  wealth, 
slowly  decaying  but  to  a  large  extent  renewed,  adulterated 
by  intermarriage  with  industrial  castes,  so  that  while  half 
its  members  bear  historic  names  the  other  half  are  of  bour- 
geois origin.  This  nobility  monopolises  the  military  and 
political  powers  of  the  state.  A  plutocratic  order  controls 
the  great  industries,  exercising  both  secret  and  open  influence  ; 
these  plutocrats  force  their  way  into  the  fluctuating  terri- 
torial nobility ;  they  conserve  their  forces  by  admitting  to 
their  ranks  able  scions  from  the  remnants  of  the  middle 
class,  and  protect  themselves  against  disintegration.  A 
decaying  middle  class,  whose  foundation  upon  handicraft 
is  crumbling,  whose  standing  ground  is  growing  ever  more 
restricted,  endeavours  to  save  itself  from  being  pushed  down 
into  the  proletariat,  participates  in  the  movement  towards 
the  plutocratic  official  ladder,  marches  in  the  train  of  the 
wealthy  caste,  and  is  content  in  the  long  run,  within  the 
camp  of  the  united  forces  of  the  well-to-do,  to  constitute 
a  kind  of  opposition — a  detached  proletariat  which  remains 
defenceless  because  it  does  not  dare  to  touch  the  founda- 
tions of  its  own  bourgeois  existence,  even  though  these 
foundations  have  already  been  hopelessly  undermined. 
The  real  proletariat,  profoundly  disturbed  but  ominously 
silent,  stands  beneath  ;  a  nation  by  itself,  a  dark  sea  whence 
at  times  a  glance  and  a  cry  rise.  This  proletariat  epitomises 
the  sins  and  the  errors  of  mechanised  society. 

To  the  fourfold  compost  we  give  the  name  of  nation. 
There  were  short-sighted  persons  who  denied  that  in  the 
moment  of  national  peril,  the  community  of  language,  life, 
and  country  would  suffice  to  cement  a  unity  of  will.  There 
are  short-sighted  persons  who  hope  that  community  of 
sacrifice  will  be  enough  to  transform  a  temporary  into  a 
permanent  renunciation. 

We  reverence  the  unassuming  responsibility  of  rule  and 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     159 

the  proud  delight  of  service  as  interchangeable  energies  of 
the  organic  world.  We  have  recognised  that  the  nameless 
servitude  of  a  hereditary  toiling  caste,  the  hopeless  con- 
demnation of  a  people  to  unspiritual  labour,  the  degradation 
of  its  wishes  and  its  joys,  are  evil  and  unjust,  are  an  expulsion 
from  the  blessed  sphere  of  the  natural.  The  will  to  nation- 
hood and  the  will  to  social  stratification  are  mutually 
exclusive.  Anyone  who  desires  that  there  should  be  German 
men  and  German  women,  must  abstain  from  wishing  that 
there  should  be  German  proletarians.  For  our  part,  we  know 
that  the  only  thing  which  can  create  a  nation  is  the 
eternally  mutable  permeation,  the  ever  renewed  interplay, 
of  function  and  leadership  ;  we  know  that  where  rights 
and  duties,  fate  and  experience,  are  hereditary,  there  we 
can  have  no  nation  but  only  castes. 

The  selfishness  of  the  family  instinct  is  the  affect  which 
underlies  the  hostility  to  nationhood,  which  underlies  the 
will  to  impose  an  unspeakable  subjection  upon  unborn 
generations  ;  this  is  the  affect  which  underlies  the  antagon- 
ism to  national  brotherhood.  Such  family  pride  is  self- 
seeking  in  so  far  as  it  is  not  content  with  the  bequeathing  of 
a  noble  name,  with  the  advantages  of  a  privileged  education, 
and  with  community  within  a  restricted  circle  of  life,  but 
goes  on  to  demand  imperishable  security  for  ownership,  a 
permanent  right  to  receive  tribute,  while  all  outside  the 
favoured  caste  are  enslaved.  Anyone  who  has  grasped 
the  significance  of  the  law  that  there  can  be  no  hereditary 
ease  and  comfort  without  hereditary  servitude,  anyone  who 
understands  that  our  many-sided  human  nature  degenerates 
to  an  equal  degree  under  hereditary  freedom  from  labour 
and  under  hereditary  compulsion  to  labour,  will  realise  that 
family  self-will  is  the  original  sin  of  human  society.  If  this 
be  granted,  one  who  persists  in  the  impulse  to  selfish  exclu- 
siveness  will  no  longer  venture  to  speak  of  the  unity  and 
brotherhood  of  a  nation.  Such  a  one  will  have  to  proclaim 
his  open  contempt  for  all  those  whom  fate  has  condemned 
to  constitute  the  mob,  will  have  to  proclaim  his  determina- 
tion that  these  persons  of  inferior  status  shall  be  kept  in 
permanent  subjection. 

Thus  family  self-will,  with  its  claim  to  heritable  goods 
and  prerogatives,  is  excluded  from  the  sphere  of  the  natural 


160    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

and  morally  justifiable  motive  forces  of  human  society  ;  the 
world  is  set  free  to  renew  in  each  generation  the  choice  of 
its  spirits  and  its  powers.  Physical  and  material  inherit- 
ance is  replaced  by  spiritual  inheritance,  which  is  already 
dominant  in  the  immaterial  realm  ;  childlike  acceptance  of 
authority  is  replaced  by  discipleship  ;  nepotism  is  replaced 
by  free  choice  Traditional  morality  and  sentiment  become 
national  property,  and  education  is  at  length  an  affair  of 
the  community.  The  ennobled  nation,  in  ruling  service 
and  in  serving  rule,  becomes  the  sustainer  of  its  own  destiny 
and  the  guardian  of  its  own  elect. 

If  this  saying  is  to  be  truly  fulfilled,  if  the  genuine  nobility 
of  the  people  is  not  to  be  falsified,  if  responsibility  is  to  be 
exercised  with  moral  and  spiritual  force,  if  we  are  to  ensure 
that  misleaders  and  supple-tongued  slaves  shall  not  creep 
into  positions  of  power — it  is  essential  that  the  new  force 
whose  dawning  we  have  heralded  should  come  into  its  own. 
It  is  essential  that  we  should  possess  an  unerring  knowledge 
and  estimate  of  human  qualities  and  values. 

For  we  have  to  look  this  danger  squarely  in  the  face, 
that  the  more  mobile  human  destiny  becomes,  the  more 
definitely  self-determination  prevails,  the  more  the  bonds 
of  tradition  and  birth  are  relaxed,  the  freer  consequently 
will  become  the  activity  of  moral  and  intellectual  forces. 
But  as  this  freedom  grows,  concomitantly  there  increases 
the  possibility  of  an  adventurer's  success,  scope  for  intellec- 
tual humbug  and  moral  chicanery.  The  extant  plutocratic 
order  encourages  an  immoral  allotment  of  success.  In 
quite  a  number  of  careers  in  the  middle  stratum  of  life,  the 
liar  and  the  chatterer,  the  man  endowed  with  cunning  and 
push,  the  irresponsible  and  greedy  adventurer,  the  cringing 
hypocrite  and  the  impudent  cheat,  have  an  incontestable 
advantage  over  persons  who  are  genuinely  gifted  and  who 
perform  their  work  with  a  full  sense  of  responsibility.  We 
are  already  confronted  with  the  danger  that  economic  life 
will  become  the  prey  of  the  freebooter,  that  public  opinion 
will  be  guided  by  the  biased  advocate,  that  all  the  nobler 
and  more  retiring  qualities  of  soul  will  decay. 

Nevertheless  counteracting  forces  are  awakening.  If 
one  of  the  few  whose  eyes  have  been  opened  finds  himself 
in  the  sublime  company  of  powerful  dignitaries,  he  will 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     161 

perceive  here  and  there,  will,  unexpectedly  and  with  amaze, 
deduce  Irom  their  appearance  and  their  words,  the  plain 
tokens,  the  unconscious  self-revelations  which  will  one  day 
seek  safety  in  concealment  and  silence,  but  of  which  to-day 
both  the  dignitaries  and  the  crowd  are  equally  unaware. 
When  men  whose  eyes  have  been  opened  encounter  one 
another,  they  can  hardly  realise  that  what  to  them  is  so 
clearly  revealed  can  still  be  hidden  from  the  crowd.  They 
smile  mournfully  when  dignitaries  display  their  unspiritual 
nakedness  at  the  very  first  word  of  unsuspecting  self-confi- 
dence ;  but  they  rejoice  when  the  aspect  and  the  sayings 
of  some  man  of  the  people  reveal  a  profound,  pure,  and 
worthy  heart.  To-day  a  man  is  despised  because,  owing 
to  some  heedless  lapse,  the  taint  of  prison  clings  to  him ; 
or  because  poverty  constrains  him  to  one  of  the  more  lowly 
occupations.  Others,  who  bear  the  stamp  of  a  slave's 
nature  impressed  on  forehead,  limbs,  and  heart,  none  the 
less  sit  on  judgment  seats  in  purple  robes,  dispense  blessings 
from  cathedral  pulpits,  guide  human  destinies,  and  are 
entrusted  with  the  seals  of  power. 

In  days  to  come,  no  one  will  be  despised,  for  this  senti- 
ment is  a  crime  against  God's  dignity.  The  people  of  those 
days  will  not  despise  backward  persons,  who  are  still  slaves 
in  body  and  in  mind,  will  not  torment  them,  but  will  lovingly 
endeavour  to  lift  them  upward.  From  earliest  youth, 
anyone  who  is  backward  will  be  relieved  of  responsibility 
until  sufficiently  enlightened  to  bear  responsibility ;  he  will 
not  be  entrusted  with  responsibility  until  he  has  wrestled 
his  way  towards  the  truth.  To  the  sallies  and  witticisms  of 
the  backward,  to  their  indignant  protests,  to  their  cajoleries 
and  rttempts  at  persuasion,  the  more  advanced  will  present 
an  imperturbable  front.  Even  in  childhood,  such  poisons 
will  be  recognised  and  avoided,  will  be  described  by  intelligible 
names.  Occupations  in  which  qualities  of  this  order  are 
requisite,  modes  of  life,  fashions  in  clothing,  and  methods 
of  enjoyment,  which  display  them,  will  no  longer  be  con- 
sidered honourable.  The  occupation  of  a  sewerman  will  be 
more  highly  respected  than  that  of  a  gossip  or  a  pushing 
fellow  ;  morbid  aberrations  will  be  less  censured  than  luxury 
and  display  ;  sailors'  brothels  will  not  be  so  severely  con- 

11 


162    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

demned   as    will    be    places   where    art    is    coarsely    cari- 
catured. 

How  mighty  is  the  force  of  a  deliberately  adopted  popular 
conviction,  we  may  learn  from  a  land  which  we  do  not 
choose  for  our  model,  a  land  where  the  narrow  and  unspiritual 
concept  of  gentlemanliness  and  good  form  has  become  the 
canon  of  all  human  judgment.  Millions  are  constrained 
to  a  rule  of  behaviour — a  passably  good  rule  even  if  it  be  no 
more  than  intellectualist  morality — by  the  censure  "  that 
is  ungentlemanly,"  or  "  that  is  bad  form."  The  transcen- 
dental duties  of  the  future  age  cannot  be  fulfilled  by  obedience 
to  such  shallow  imperatives.  The  question  which  the  future 
will  have  to  face  is,  What  is  worthy  of  the  human  soul, 
what  is  proper  to  that  soul.  Before  this  categorical  watch- 
word, which  utterly  outsoars  all  empirical,  intellectual,  and 
utilitarian  conceptions  of  duty,  the  characteristics  and  the 
occupations,  the  gifts  and  the  rights,  which  are  dominant 
in  the  world  of  to-day,  will  fade  into  insignificance.  There 
will  ensue  that  tranquillity  of  soul  wherein  men,  things, 
and  divinity,  come  into  their  own. 

We  now  draw  near  to  the  last  and  gravest  test.  We 
have  been  contemplating  a  future  wherein  the  most  power- 
ful motives  which  animate  extant  society  are  supposed  to 
have  been  stilled.  Love  of  display,  the  craving  for  prestige, 
the  passion  for  trash  and  gauds,  individual  selfishness  and 
family  selfishness,  are  at  an  end.  May  it  not  happen  that 
when  society  has  been  deprived  of  these  motive  forces,  its 
mechanism  will  run  down  ;  may  it  not  come  to  pass  that  the 
progress  of  civilisation  will  be  arrested  ;  will  not  the  physical 
and  the  spiritual  goods  of  mankind  fall  into  decay  ?  Or 
will  forces  remain  in  operation  competent  to  continue  the 
planetary  process  under  purer  conditions  ? 

Were  it  true  that  the  end  justifies,  not  the  means  alone, 
but  the  motives  also  ;  were  it  true  that  the  life  of  this  earthly 
community  can  be  upbuilded  on  no  other  foundation  than 
that  of  bad  and  foolish  impulses,  then  indeed  it  would  be 
well  and  timely  that  this  life  should  perish.  But  if  we 
regard  the  eternal  morality  of  the  world  process  as  an 
inviolable  assumption  (and  only  upon  such  an  assumption 
are  we  entitled  to  act  morally  on  other  grounds  than  those 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     163 

of  vulgar  cowardice),  then  we  know  full  well  that  we  need 
do  no  evil  in  order  that  we  may  live. 

We  can  readily  understand  why,  in  our  days,  the  blessing 
of  labour  is  spoken  of  as  a  struggle  for  existence,  and  why 
this  struggle  is  waged  with  hatred  and  grimacing  in  an 
arena  full  of  blood  and  tears.  Inhuman  is  the  way  in  which 
this  society  of  ours  looks  on  unmoved  while  the  young 
gladiator,  unwarned  and  untrained,  descends  into  that 
arena,  wherein  repeatedly,  hour  after  hour,  he  has  to  defend 
for  himself  and  his  dear  ones  the  minimal  requisites  of  food, 
clothing,  and  shelter,  against  the  greed  and  the  harshness 
of  others.  A  glance  aside,  an  incautious  step,  a  momentary 
weakness,  may  lead  to  a  fall ;  and  unless  he  be  inwardly 
fortified  against  all  the  buffetings  of  fate,  this  fall  may 
involve  the  death  of  his  body  and  the  destruction  of  his 
soul.  Society  owes  security  to  every  one  of  its  members.  It 
has  destroyed  the  old  security  of  the  essential  occupations ; 
out  of  the  oldtime  circle  of  duties,  society  has  created  a  field 
of  battle  whereon  the  cunning  ruse  and  the  poisoned  weapon 
gain  the  victory.  It  is  absolutely  incumbent  on  society 
to  spend  a  month's  cost  of  the  war  that  the  straggle  for 
existence  may  be  lifted  above  the  plane  where  life  is  crudely 
imperilled.  Not  until  then  can  that  intense  anxiety  and  that 
profound  bitterness  disappear  with  which  thousands  think 
of  the  coming  day ;  not  until  then  shall  we  be  rid  of  the 
poison  of  unfreedom  which  falsifies  convictions ;  not  until 
then  shall  we  have  done  with  the  sordid  passion  associated 
with  the  problem  of  mine  and  thine.  Then  only  will  space 
have  been  cleared  for  the  working  of  the  unsullied  forces 
which  will  animate  the  future  will  to  live. 

But  these  forces  are  neither  new  nor  alien.  Even 
to-day,  they  provide  the  impulse  to  all  activities  of  a  higher 
grade.  We  ask  no  more  than  that  in  days  to  come  these 
forces  shall  rule  in  the  whole  field  of  endeavour,  and  that 
then  there  shall  be  no  activities  of  the  baser  sort. 

All  activity  is  noble  when  it  is  undertaken  for  its  own 
sake.  All  activity  is  trivial  when  constrained  by  the  spur 
of  desire  or  the  whip  of  fear,  when  it  is  not  self-sufficient, 
when  it  is  not  an  end  in  itself  but  a  means  to  some  ignoble 
end. 

It  was  the  marvellous,  fatherlike,  and  divine  love  for  the 


164    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

created  object,  which  gave  marrow  and  life,  spaciousness 
and  speech,  to  the  products  made  in  the  days  of  craftsman- 
ship. The  rubbish  turned  out  wholesale  to-day  simply  in 
order  that  it  may  be  sold,  is  barren  and  false  ;  its  smirking 
glance  squints  at  the  rubbish  heap  where  its  ephemeral  life 
comes  to  an  end.  The  overplus  of  lavished  love  which 
endowed  the  works  of  the  old  craftsmen  with  their  careless 
beauty  and  their  careful  grace,  is  scorned  in  the  calculated 
phraseology  of  machine-made  ornamentation.  As  ultimate 
reflected  glory  from  the  springs  of  artistic  wealth  which 
have  dried  up,  there  remains  precision,  a  highly  artificialised 
technical  virtue  of  countless  generations  in  the  hereditary 
series  of  the  various  utensils  whose  family  tree  is  so  closely 
intertwined  with  the  life  of  mankind. 

If,  however,  we  raise  our  eyes  from  the  paltry  products 
of  the  spirit  of  gain,  to  whatever  kind  of  creative  work 
imparts  a  true  meaning  to  our  time,  we  realise  that  there 
only  do  we  find  creative  life,  where  things  are  done  or  made 
for  their  own  sake,  and  not  mediately  to  some  other  end 
The  artist  works  for  love  of  the  work  and  because  of  the 
formative  impulse  which  moves  him  ;  the  scientific  investi- 
gator is  impelled  by  the  desire  for  knowledge  and  the  spirit 
of  order  ;  the  statesman  works  by  force  of  will  and  is  driven 
by  the  urge  of  ideas  ;  even  those  whose  occupations  are 
earthbound,  desire  to  realise  thoughts  and  to  bring  the 
organisable  to  life.  The  financier  and  organiser  who  works 
simply  that  he  may  enrich  himself,  is  a  mercenary  bungler  ; 
never  will  his  hand  scatter  the  good  seed  ;  the  word  and  the 
work  which  serve  two  masters,  which  serve  the  cause  and 
serve  also  selfishness,  are  weaker,  and  will  be  overthrown 
by  the  free  word  and  the  free  work,  which  serve  the  cause 
alone. 

What,  then,  is  necessary  beyond  this,  that  the  free 
spirit  of  love  for  the  cause,  which  to-day  is  the  leading 
motive  in  all  higher  activity,  should  come  likewise  to  domi- 
nate activities  of  medium  and  lesser  significance  ?  There  is 
not  a  single  deed  performed  upon  earth  which  cannot  be 
ennobled  by  the  spirit  and  the  will,  if  lovingly  executed. 
Human  nature  is  just,  as  plastic  as  human  occupations  are 
modifiable ;  it  produces,  not  only  the  born  soldier  and  the 
born  priest,  but  it  produces  also  the  born  printer,  bicyclist, 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     165 

chess  player,  or  stenographer.  We  must  free  oin selves 
from  the  tyranny  of  heredity,  the  tyranny  of  determinism  ; 
we  must  be  free  to  choose  our  own  occupations.  These 
conditions  have  been  discussed,  and  we  have  seen  them  to 
be  realisable.  Were  they  fulfilled,  there  would  be  no  further 
need  for  ignoble  motives,  no  further  need  for  the  despot's 
scourges  of  greed  and  fear.  Then  would  man  be  kept  alive, 
not  by  hunger  and  lust,  but  by  love. 

But  what  of  the  passionate  urge  which  issues  from  the 
impulses  to  leadership  and  dominance  ?  Who  will  be  pre- 
pared to  undertake  the  twofold  labour  and  care  of  the 
struggle  for  life,  of  the  bettering  of  life  for  himself  and  for 
others,  when  vanity  is  contemned  and  ambition  is  tempered  ? 
Can  the  world  dispense  with  this  last  and  strongest  motive, 
this  self-determining  instrument  of  selection  ? 

Even  to-day  the  world  has  no  need  of  such  a  motive, 
and  will  never  need  it  in  days  to  come.  Just  as  little  as  the 
will  to  gain  can  engender  the  true  values  of  economic  life, 
just  so  little  can  the  will  to  personal  power  engender  true 
dominance.  The  vain  ruler  is  the  weakest  of  rulers  ;  he  is 
weaker  than  the  ruler  of  narrow  views  ;  his  position  is  even 
less  secure  than  that  of  the  evil  ruler.  Vanity  is  a  fatal 
defect.  Vanity  demands  a  life  of  its  own  ;  a  second  life 
which  exists  side  by  side  with  the  life  of  creative  work  ;  a  life 
which  monopolises  the  vain  man's  powers,  so  that  no  room  is 
left  for  the  lonely,  unconcerned,  self-sacrificing  hours  of  con- 
templation and  creation.  Respect  for  truth  and  necessity 
vanishes  ;  things  and  men  are  no  longer  regarded  as  ends 
in  themselves,  and  become  means  to  an  end  ;  resolve  loses 
character  and  aim,  and  becomes  a  mere  sport.  He  only 
who  is  endowed  with  concentration  of  aim  is  able  to  march 
on  firmly  to  his  goal ;  the  man  who  is  constant  to  one  direc- 
tion, no  matter  which,  will  make  his  way  through  the 
thicket ;  but  he  who  moves  in  a  circle  is  doomed.  Now, 
when  the  service  of  the  cause  is  coupled  with  the  service 
of  the  person,  the  direction  is  lost.  When  a  man  has 
devoted  years  of  his  life  to  the  pitiful  work  of  making  a 
career  for  himself,  for  him  the  world  and  life  are  no  longer 
the  garden  of  the  Lord,  but  a  stage  for  cabals  and  intrigues  ; 
never  again  will  his  eye  be  granted  the  pure  vision,  his  arm 
the  sinewy  force,  or  his  heart  the  childlike  will,  which  sow 


166    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

the  good  seed  and  ensure  the  harvest.  The  cause  claims 
the  whole  man,  claims  him  by  day  and  by  night ;  and  the 
strongest  and  most  gifted  among  the  sons  of  men  will  fail 
to  meet  this  test  if  his  mind  dwell  upon  his  own  life  and  his 
own  welfare. 

Nothing  of  permanent  value  has  ever  been  created  by 
ambition.  One  who,  in  rebuttal  of  this  assertion,  would 
adduce  the  example  of  that  mighty  spirit  on  the  threshold 
between  the  old  world  and  the  new,  the  example  of  the 
man  who  slammed  the  door  of  the  old  world  behind  him, 
and  who  forced  his  way  into  the  realm  of  the  new  age,  the 
realm  whose  true  meaning  escaped  him — such  a  one  has 
failed  to  understand  the  nature  of  the  Corsican.  He  only 
who  lives  not  for  himself  but  for  the  object  of  his  quest, 
can  achieve  this  fanaticism  of  reality.  Even  if  the  object 
be  an  idol,  even  if  it  be  the  sport  of  a  foolish  and  unsub- 
stantial will,  it  is  none  the  less  of  royal  worth,  since  it 
ennobles  the  man  by  freeing  him  from  selfishness  and  from 
enslavement  to  base  desires.  Not  for  the  sake  of  the 
dramatic  spectacles  in  Notre  Dame  and  Erfurt,  did  Napoleon 
become  inhuman,  but  for  the  sake  of  imperial  power. 
Because,  by  a  vestige  of  false  sentiment,  he  was  rendered 
incapable  of  separating  the  idea  of  power  from  the  man  of 
might,  the  man  perished. 

Responsibility  is  the  only  force  which  can  demand  lord- 
ship and  is  justified  in  wielding  it.  It  will  never  demand 
lordship  for  the  sake  of  its  insignia ;  it  will  never  demand 
power  for  the  sake  of  the  man  and  his  pleasure.  Responsible 
lordship  is  service,  but  not  the  mystical  service  of  a  despotic 
god  who  grants  arbitrary  power  because  he  himself  exercises 
arbitrary  power,  who  makes  the  ruler  an  object  of  worship 
because  he  himself  insists  on  being  worshipped ;  but  the 
service  of  an  ideal  conception  which  stimulates  others  to 
the  common  work.  Responsible  lordship  makes  the  king 
a  slave  and  makes  the  slave  a  king — not  in  order  that  the 
king  may  be  ruled  by  the  slave,  but  in  order  that  the  slave 
may  be  raised  in  spirit  to  the  level  of  the  king.  It  does  not 
demand  subjection  and  obedience,  but  cooperation  and  dis- 
cipleship.  Genuflection  and  intrigue  are  contemptible,  pomp 
and  idolatry  hateful,  to  responsible  lordship.  Whoever 
wishes  to  rule  over  slaves,  is  himself  a  runaway  slave ;  but 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     167 

that  man  is  free  whom  free  men  freely  serve,  and  who 
himself  freely  serves  free  men. 

The  joy  of  the  despot  is  joy  in  self-glorification,  in  the 
baseness  of  mankind,  in  ease,  display,  fame,  and  envy  ;  and  if 
it  sometimes  happen  that  ease  is  sacrificed,  this  sacrifice  is 
only  made  for  the  acquirement  of  the  delights  of  further 
power.  But  the  joy  of  responsibility  is  joy  in  danger,  delight 
in  labour  and  in  pains,  delight  in  creation.  Self-sacrificing 
creation  is  active  love,  the  supreme  guarantee  of  our  tran- 
scendental privileges.  Should  mortal  man  ever  appear 
before  the  judgment  seat  of  the  universe,  he  would  be 
adjudged  and  acquitted  in  virtue  of  the  blessed  utterance : 
My  happiness  was  found  in  creative  love. 

Responsibility  is  competent  to  eradicate  from  the  list 
of  human  motives  the  false  power  of  the  search  for  honours, 
and  it  is  able  to  effectuate  that  passionate  increase  of 
individual  endeavour  which  is  essential  if  the  world  is  not 
to  go  short  of  leadership.  The  strong  affect  is  aided,  not 
merely  by  the  steadfastness  which  is  not  lacking  in  the 
course  of  a  lifetime,  but  also  by  the  justice  of  self-deter- 
minative selection.  Ambition  is  helpful  to  weaklings  and 
fools,  who  squander  the  great  opportunity  in  the  pursuit  of 
phantasmagoria ;  whereas  the  will  to  responsibility  is 
characteristic  of  the  capable,  and  of  the  chosen  few—for 
everyone  loves  that  which  he  is  able  to  do,  and  everyone 
is  able  to  do  that  which  he  sincerely  and  unselfishly  loves. 

We  have  seen  that  fundamentally  new  forms  of  social 
ethics  are  arising ;  we  have  foreshadowed  profound  modifica- 
tions in  motive  forces,  in  valuations,  and  in  aims.  Never- 
theless, these  demands  and  their  fulfilment  involve  nothing 
alien  to  mankind,  nothing  Utopian.  In  all  the  purer  spirits 
of  our  day,  every  one  of  our  hopes  has  unconsciously  been 
realised.  Which  is  the  more  temerarious  ?  To  expect  that 
many  will  one  day  understand  what  it  is  already  granted 
to  a  few  to  understand  ?  Or  to  deny  for  all  time  the  possi- 
bility of  rising  to  freer  modes  of  sensibility  ?  Let  him  who 
would  venture  this  denial,  realise  that  all  thought  and  all 
activity  which  bears  the  imprint  of  the  moral  will,  is  pre- 
destined to  give  added  strength  to  eternal  prerogative  and 
eternal  disavowal. 

The  persistency  of  progress,  the  transformations  arising 


168     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

out  of  the  germs  of  time,  will  anew  be  made  visible  when  we 
refashion  our  image  of  the  civilised  world  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  intuitive  perception. 

The  life  of  externals  will  grow  more  tranquil,  for  the 
cruder  allurements  and  stimuli  will  have  become  void  of 
effect ;  they  will  have  gone  the  way  of  sugar  men,  glass 
beads,  and  toy  detonators.  The  importunate  clamour, 
the  impudent  misrepresentation  of  the  salesman,  will  no 
longer  be  taken  as  a  matter  of  course.  No  longer  can  any- 
one be  plunged  into  poverty,  and  all  men  will  therefore  be 
indifferent  to  riches.  Haste  is  fear  ;  the  urgency  and  push 
which  are  pardonable  to-day  as  the  outcome  of  people's 
attempts  to  save  themselves  from  despair  and  destruction, 
will  be  discountenanced  when  all  are  properly  cared  for  ; 
ruthless  attempts  to  secure  personal  advantage  will  be 
universally  condemned.  The  greed  and  hustle  of  the 
purchaser  will  cease,  and  therewith  will  come  a  term  to  the 
noisy  anxiety  of  money  getting  and  to  the  squabbles  of 
competing  interests.  Work  will  become  serious,  tranquil, 
and  dignified ;  just  as  we  now  contemplate  the  rag-fair  of 
earlier  days,  so  in  the  future  will  people  look  back  with 
amazement  upon  things  which  we  regard  as  commonplace. 
The  foci  of  poisonous  luxury  and  envenomed  joys,  of  un- 
spiritual  pleasures  and  coarse  stimuli,  will  have  migrated, 
at  first  to  suburbs  and  manufacturing  towns,  thence  to  the 
Balkans,  and  at  length  to  tropical  dependencies.  Anyone 
who  may  prefer  such  places  to  the  abodes  of  civilised  life, 
will  be  free  to  visit  them  ;  but  the  unrestrained  impudence 
of  seduction  will  be  put  to  shame.  Here  and  there,  women 
may,  like  negresses,  flaunt  frippery,  plumage,  and  many- 
coloured  beads  through  the  streets,  may  lure  admirers  by 
a  mincing  gait,  may  grimace  in  cushioned  and  scented  alcoves, 
and  may  dazzle  the  latest  victims  of  their  folly ;  but  they 
will  know  full  well  what  they  are  doing,  for  by  then  woman's 
creative  mission  will  have  become  a  part  of  the  popular 
consciousness.  Enriched  merchants  may  store  and  display 
costly  furniture  and  costly  food  behind  gratings  and  walls, 
may  squander  human  forces,  may  isolate  for  their  own 
pleasure  works  of  art  and  nature  ;  the  only  persons  they 
will  find  to  envy  and  admire  them  will  be  the  rare  beings  of 
their  own  quality,  who  deliberately  prefer  the  obsolete 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     169 

pleasures  of  greed  and  display  to  the  new  vision  of  the 
civilised  community.  The  practice  of  outbidding  in  material 
display,  which  grins  in  all  its  vulgarity  from  house  fronts 
and  shop  windows,  from  furniture  and  clothing,  will  have 
come  to  an  end  ;  personal  enrichment  will  no  longer  be 
regarded  as  a  universal,  self-evident,  and  commendable 
aim ;  luxury  will  then  arouse  no  admiration,  but  only 
regretful  surprise.  As  heretofore,  technical  progress  will 
serve  the  purposes  of  life,  but  the  acceleration  and  enhanced 
comfort  of  every  institution  and  appliance  will  not  be  made 
an  end  in  itself.  The  duty  of  machinery  as  the  servitor  of 
mankind  is,  and  will  remain,  to  assist  in  the  control  of  material 
objects,  to  spiritualise  labour,  to  relieve  human  beings  of 
the  work  of  beasts  of  burden,  and  to  care  for  the  growing 
number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  world.  To  be  enraptured  by 
every  intensification  of  stimuli,  by  every  magnification  of 
effect,  is  childish.  It  may,  for  a  season,  continue  to  enthuse 
the  Americans,  but  such  a  mood  is  unworthy  of  an  intelligent 
community. 

To-day  the  emotional  tone  of  human  relationships  is 
one  of  estrangement  and  enmity.  People  are  unwilling  to 
converse  with  anyone  with  whom  they  are  unacquainted. 
A  stranger  must  be  encountered  with  the  acerbity  which 
springs  from  a  conflict  of  interests,  tempered  with  a  veneer 
of  politeness.  In  business  matters  there  is  no  place  for 
good-nature,  said  a  Prussian  minister  of  state.  Between 
acquaintances,  politeness  is  pushed  to  the  pitch  of  caricature, 
while  remaining  enmity,  for  it  has  its  baneful  roots  in  the 
mortal  peril  of  the  economic  struggle.  As  soon  as  human 
beings  are  as  well  protected  against  homelessness  and  hunger, 
against  poverty  and  sickness,  as  they  are  already  protected 
to-day  against  theft  and  murder,  there  will  no  longer  be  any 
justification  for  social  hostility,  and  anyone  who  displays 
such  a  sentiment  will  thereby  avow  his  own  selfishness  and 
cupidity.  Suspicion,  the  cheapest  of  all  the  forms  of  prudence, 
is  under  existing  conditions  regarded  by  many  as  the  first 
lesson  of  life's  experience  ;  and  it  may  be  true  that  a  genera- 
tion so  much  at  fault  as  ours  in  the  estimation  of  human 
qualities,  so  blind  as  ours  in  the  interpretation  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  those  qualities,  is  all  too  familiar  with  breach  of 
confidence,  lying,  and  malice ;  yet  this  is  the  very  generation 


170    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

which  allows  itself  to  be  talked  over  by  thousands  of 
chatterers,  to  be  fooled  by  salesmen,  to  be  inveigled  by  gross 
allurements.  When  mankind  has  been  freed  from  fear  and 
covetousness,  then  self-command,  self-respect,  and  self-con- 
fidence will  be  restored.  If  people  become  accustomed,  with 
an  incorruptible  vision  which  is  equally  remote  from  over- 
valuation and  depreciation,  to  see  their  neighbours  as  they 
really  are,  alike  in  body  and  in  spirit,  all  will  know  how 
much  they  can  trust  one  another,  what  they  have  a  right 
to  expect  from  one  another,  and  what  they  owe  to  one 
another.  The  short -sighted  timidity  of  suspicion  will  vanish  ; 
we  shall  look  one  another  in  the  face,  and  know  that  we  are 
brothers. 

Under  the  spur  of  greed  and  ambition,  social  enmity 
becomes  accentuated  until  there  arises  a  fierce  competition 
for  the  goods  of  outward  life.  The  cry  of  the  furies,  Renounce, 
that  I  may  possess,  Sacrifice,  that  I  may  enjoy,  Die  that 
I  may  live,  has  goaded  the  nations  to  madness,  has  driven 
them  towards  annihilation,  and  has  arrayed  brothers  of 
the  same  nation,  army  against  army,  in  the  hereditary 
struggle  of  the  classes  and  the  castes.  All  human  delibera- 
tion is  complicated  by  the  intrusive  problem  of  mine  and 
thine.  No  political  skill  can  now  direct  the  forces  of  a  nation 
towards  disinterested  goals,  no  unity  of  will  can  endow  the 
inner  impulse  to  justice  with  the  strength  of  the  forces  of 
nature  ;  all  values  are  contested,  and  surmounting  them  all, 
irresponsible  and  unchallenged,  stands  the  fateful  power 
of  the  interests. 

Nothing  but  the  liquidation  and  dis valuation  of  wealth, 
the  bridging  over  of  hereditary  cleavages,  the  ending  of  the 
subdivision  into  permanently  burdened  and  permanently 
burdening  sections,  nothing  but  the  amalgamation  of  human 
society  to  constitute  a  living,  labile,  self-renovating  organism, 
nothing  but  this  quietly  effected  and  yet  tremendous  trans- 
formation surging  up  from  the  depths  of  the  moral  conscious- 
ness, will  be  competent  to  stay  the  fratricidal  struggle  of 
men  and  nations.  Not  for  the  creation  of  earthly  paradises, 
not  for  making  existence  easier  for  one  and  sparing  suffering 
to  another,  not  solely  for  the  sake  of  justice,  and  still  less 
for  the  sake  of  compassion  ;  but  under  the  impulsion  of 
eternal  duty,  as  the  manifestation  of  a  call  to  new  and 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     171 

arduous  struggles,  lest  the  world  should  perish  in  unworthy 
bondage  to  material  things,  and  in  order  that  the  world 
may  be  led  onward  towards  a  new  and  more  strenuous  life, 
the  life  of  the  community  and  of  the  soul,  lived  for  the 
fulfilment  of  God's  will. 

The  most  intimate  and  vital  sentiment  of  mankind  will 
be  the  feeling  of  solidarity.  Whereas  to-day  whatever  is 
not  positively  forbidden  is  regarded  as  allowable,  whereas 
to-day  everyone  is  on  the  look-out  for  the  utmost  limits 
of  permissible  rights,  in  the  future  all  will  endeavour  to  use 
their  socially  helpful  powers  to  the  uttermost.  Life,  liber- 
ated from  the  fear  and  greed  of  pains  and  pleasures,  will 
not  be  subordinated  to  cold  calculation,  nor  yet  will  it  be 
the  sport  of  the  head  and  the  limbs.  Liberated  will  be  the 
splendid  energy  of  the  will,  but  not  for  the  service  of  self- 
destructive  aims.  We  shall  act  in  full  consciousness  of  the 
divine  duty  whose  fulfilment  is  the  purpose  of  our  life ;  the 
divine  duty  which  makes  us  responsible  for  the  activity  of 
every  muscle  of  our  body  and  every  mood  of  our  soul ;  the 
divine  duty  which,  in  virtue  of  its  own  laws,  demands  that 
we  should  move  steadfastly  upwards  from  the  levels  of  the 
animal  to  the  levels  of  the  spiritual,  and  from  the  levels  of 
the  spiritual  to  the  altitudes  of  the  soul. 

How  easy  it  is  to  turn  away  with  a  smile  from  this  sacred 
confidence  ;  how  easy,  with  a  sceptical  reference  to  the 
immutability  of  human  nature,  to  postpone  to  distant 
millenniums  all  advance  towards  loftier  goals,  in  order  that 
we  may  more  commodiously  devote  ourselves  to  the  questions 
of  the  hour. 

These  questions  of  the  hour,  to  which  you  offer  up  your 
days  and  your  nights,  what  are  they  ?  They  are  the  trickle 
of  springs  and  rivulets  which  waste  themselves  in  the  moor- 
land for  lack  of  a  spiritual  will  to  guide  them  into  appropriate 
channels  ;  here  lies  a  block  of  wood,  there  is  placed  a  great 
stone,  so  that  the  wayfarer's  footsteps  may  find  some  support 
in  the  quagmire,  though  these  insufficient  aids  are  ever 
sinking  beneath  his  weight.  They  are  the  renouncement  of 
the  self-guidance  of  the  human  race  by  the  light  of  native 
insight ;  surrender  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  times,  which 
after  a  wholesale  squandering  of  life  may  shark  up  a  fluctu- 
ating balance  wherein  all  energies  are  stifled  until  the 


172    IN       DAYS        TO        COME 

avalanche  comes,  and  after  an  agonising  destruction  some 
new  nullity  is  attained.  They  are  the  policy  of  least  resis- 
tance ;  the  carrying  out  of  that  which  is  easiest,  not  of  that 
which  is  needful  but  difficult  of  attainment.  They  are 
mediation  between  extant  forces  of  the  will,  not  because 
these  forces  have  a  justified  existence,  but  because  they 
have  struck  deep  root  or  are  frequently  encountered.  The 
world  leaves  to  follies,  vanities,  and  petty  needs,  the  decision 
which  shall  first  be  gratified  ;  and  those  that  make  the 
loudest  outcry  have  always  the  prior  claim.  Never  before 
has  there  been  a  historical  epoch  which  abandoned  the 
attempt  to  appraise  its  volitions  and  to  form  them  by  the 
guidance  of  its  own  intuitive  insight.  It  has  been  left  to 
our  own  day,  under  the  dominion  of  the  all-wise  and  all- 
knowing  intellect,  to  abandon  our  earthly  and  heavenly 
life  to  the  sport  of  chance,  the  majority,  tradition,  super- 
stitious remnants  and  eclectical  valuations — and  to  expound 
the  questions  of  the  hour  with  all  the  solemnity  of  a 
councillor  of  state. 

You  cannot  change  human  nature !  How  fond  of 
this  phrase  are  the  well-to-do,  those  who  have  much  to  lose 
and  to  whom  everything  comes  without  effort,  those  who 
have  no  faith  in  the  future  and  who  none  the  less  give  the 
lie  to  their  own  unfaith  by  their  assiduous  attention  to 
the  works  of  the  day  and  the  questions  of  the  hour.  Doubtless, 
laughter  and  tears,  love  and  hatred,  pleasure  and  pain  are 
old  as  well  as  new :  and  nevertheless  the  Bushman  and  the 
Papuan  still  survive  as  reminiscences  of  primitive  ages  ; 
nevertheless  the  coming  of  Christ  cleft  human  existence 
into  two  epochs  ;  nevertheless  three  centuries  have  sufficed 
for  the  western  world  to  transform  human  thought ;  never- 
theless in  the  course  of  four  generations  an  obscure  mass 
of  humanity  has  been  transformed  into  a  supremely  vigorous 
bourgeoisie,  and  the  German  body  politic  has  been  renewed 
from  within  outwards ;  nevertheless  by  the  will  of  a  king 
the  Prussian  estate  of  administrators  and  defenders  has  been 
created.  So  dull-witted,  so  wilfully  blind  are  the  people 
of  our  day,  that  they  are  accustomed  to  deny  the  right  of 
entire  nations  to  exist,  although  they  know  that  in  every 
social  community  matricides  and  cheats,  madmen  and 
invalids,  thinkers,  military  commanders,  saints,  lovers. 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     173 

pleasure-seekers,  and  creative  artists,  are  mingled  in  like 
proportions.  It  is  difficult,  therefore,  to  make  the  people 
of  our  day  realise  that  changes  in  the  aspect  of  society  do 
not  signify  a  transformation  of  all  the  individual  elements 
of  that  society,  but  the  production  of  a  new  stratification, 
a  change  in  guiding  valuations,  the  march  of  the  dominant 
idea.  Nature  has  a  deep-rooted  contempt  for  change  ;  in 
chambers  which  are  ever  more  remote  from  the  actualities 
of  life,  she  preserves  as  mementoes  the  types  of  a  vanished 
day ;  the  primevally  old  mussel  and  the  man  of  the  stone 
age  still  exist,  and  in  like  manner  men  of  intellectualist 
type  filled  with  fear  and  greed  will  continue  to  exist  for 
thousands  of  years ;  no  longer,  however,  will  such  as  he 
rule  the  world.  Time  and  quantity  are  of  no  account  to 
nature  ;  she  does  not  drive  human  beings  in  a  troop  through 
the  gates  of  paradise  ;  she  works  artist  fashion,  like  the 
sculptor  who  will  animate  with  the  breath  of  his  soul  none 
but  the  choicest  fragment  of  stone.  The  sea  is  unchange- 
able, and  yet  hour  by  hour  it  assumes  new  forms  and  colours, 
when  the  sky  is  overcast,  when  the  winds  ruffle  its  surface, 
when  clouds  hide  the  face  of  the  sun,  and  when  the  moon 
pierces  the  mists  at  night.  Thus  in  every  nation,  all  varieties 
of  faith  and  knowledge,  of  thought  and  will,  are  simul- 
taneously present  and  simultaneously  effective  ;  the  spiritual 
complexion  at  any  particular  moment  is  not  determined 
by  the  decision  of  the  majority,  but  by  the  united  activity 
of  the  more  resolute  stratum  of  the  population.  The 
dominant  spiritual  power  is  competent  to  assimilate  to 
itself  the  neutral-tinted  and  indifferent  elements,  so  that 
by  degrees  its  predominance  comes  to  rest  upon  majority 
power.  All  assimilatory  influences  are  effective  in  virtue  of 
this  law.  That  is  why  if  a  nation  is  to  civilise  and  to 
colonise,  it  must  be  morally  homogeneous  and  must  be 
moved  by  one  consistent  will. 

The  aim  and  the  promise  of  our  teaching,  the  foundations 
of  the  future  ordering  of  mankind,  are  not  to  be  discerned 
in  a  radical,  rapid,  and  simultaneous  moral  transformation 
among  all  peoples.  There  will  be  an  indefinite  rise  and 
expansion  of  a  dominant,  unifying,  and  stimulating  spiritual 
power  ;  the  harmony  will  swell  until  even  unharmonious 
vessels  will  vibrate  responsively.  The  first  subdued  strains 


174     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

are  already  audible,  hesitating  voices  are  joining  in,  so  that 
even  to-day  the  summons  can  be  heard.  As  soon  as  it 
crosses  the  threshold  of  consciousness  for  no  more  than  one 
community,  the  transformations  of  the  visible  life  will  begin. 
As  soon  as,  through  the  working  of  the  law  of  dominance, 
these  transformations  are  in  full  progress,  the  new  day,  the 
day  of  strenuous  endeavour,  will  have  dawned. 

Whence  is  our  confidence  derived  ?  If  we  would  answer 
this  question,  we  must  return  to  our  starting-point  Why, after 
the  lapse  of  centuries,  should  we  for  the  first  time  be  justified 
in  our  assurance  that  a  new  unity  of  beliefs  and  values  will 
be  vouchsafed  us  ?  We  know  that  our  intellectual sed  and 
mechanised  world  is  utterly  without  convictions  ;  we  know 
that  the  spirit  of  compromise  stifles  and  prohibits  all  absolute 
valuations  ;  we  know  that  the  bonds  of  unity  have  been 
rent  asunder,  and  that  only  the  egoistic  will  has  gathered 
strength.  May  it  not  be  that,  despite  the  ardency  of  our 
faith,  we  shall  be  hopelessly  involved  in  the  blind  course 
of  the  majority  movement,  in  the  barren  compounding  of 
interests  and  bodily  needs,  which  ultimately  and  inevitably 
(as  the  materialist  conception  of  history  prescribes)  will  be 
determined  by  the  nameless  laws  of  the  natural  forces,  and 
will  ensure  for  these  forces  a  victory  over  the  thoughts  of 
man  ?  Have  we  not  once  and  for  all  sacrificed  the  self- 
determination  of  the  human  spirit  to  the  mechanical  destiny 
of  the  balance  ? 

The  dominion  of  the  unified  human  will  and  of  moral 
conviction  over  the  resistance  of  material  things,  existed 
only  for  so  long  as  revealed  religion  determined  every  step 
of  the  communal  will.  That  dominion  collapsed  as  soon  as 
wonder  vanished  out  of  the  natural  life  of  every  day,  yielding 
place  to  law  ;  as  soon  as  it  ceased  to  be  possible  for  sun  and 
moon  to  be  stayed  in  their  courses  by  God's  command,  now 
that  thought  had  come  to  prescribe  for  these  bodies  unresting 
repose  and  dead  movement.  The  collapse  was  inevitable, 
seeing  that  revealed  religion  experiences  no  renovation, 
unless  as  in  the  East  it  is  reinvigorated  from  day  to  day 
by  new  signs  and  tokens.  The  primary  miracles  become 
ancient  history  ;  faith  grows  dogmatic  ;  the  divine  message 
degenerates  into  law ;  the  godhead  is  obscured  by  priest- 
craft. The  communion  of  saints  is  replaced  by  the  mechanised 


THE       WAY        OF        MORALS     175 

church  ;  politics  flourish  where  piety  prevailed  ;  the  primi- 
tive transcendental,  through  interpretation  and  misinter- 
pretation, becomes  a  terrestrial  power,  aptly  designed  for 
the  warfare  against  realities  now  that  it  has  lost  the  faculty 
of  moulding  realities.  The  rule  of  revealed  religion  pre- 
supposes a  nation  which  has  not  yet  traversed  the  evil  road 
of  the  intellect ;  it  presupposes  unceasing  renewal  by  signs 
and  wonders,  which  are  able  to  vivify  the  primitive  trans- 
cendental content,  and  which  can  effect  the  perpetual  reinter- 
pretation  and  inviolable  regulation  of  the  relationship  to 
the  course  of  reality.  The  dominance  of  religious  unity  is 
renewed,  not  by  the  edict  of  the  priest  or  by  the  council 
of  the  church,  but  by  the  voice  of  the  prophet. 

Religion  was  dethroned  by  reason.  The  mettle  and  the 
conscience  of  the  peoples  of  Teutonic  stock  led  them  to 
repudiate  the  materialised  comforts  of  mysticism,  and  to 
aim  at  harmonising  faith  and  thought  They  created  a 
religious  structure  which  was  able  to  accompany  man  for 
centuries  on  his  pathway  through  time,  inasmuch  as  minds 
were  kept  open  to  the  primitive  transcendentalism  of  the 
Gospels  ;  but  this  new  religious  system  was  unable  to  become 
a  universally  dominant  spiritual  power,  because  it  was 
schismatic,  because  it  was  not  based  upon  prophecy,  because 
it  placed  no  restraint  upon  investigatory  thought,  and 
because  from  the  very  outset  it  was  subordinated  to  the 
political  power  to  which  it  owed  its  existence.  In  ultimate 
analysis,  Protestantism  has  unceasingly  continued  to  lead 
a  private  life,  even  when  in  certain  monarchical  states  it  was 
able,  under  official  protection,  to  win  a  measure  of  political 
influence.  It  failed  to  acquire  supreme  authority  as  the 
prescriber  of  values  for  life  in  general  It  did  not  even 
strive  to  attain  such  a  position,  for  the  court  chaplain  could 
not  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  prophets  and  the  martyrs. 

Reason  held  sway  over  the  intellectualised  spirit  of  the 
nations.  Once  again,  as  of  old  in  the  days  of  the  naively 
pre-Christian  idea  of  the  state,  it  devolved  on  philosophy  to 
prescribe  values.  But  philosophy  had  a  scanty  audience. 
During  several  centuries  the  world  was  exclusively  busied 
with  the  unprecedented  developments  of  mechanisation ; 
with  science,  technique,  capital,  communications,  constitu- 
tional changes,  war,  the  vestiges  of  feudalism,  modes  of 


176    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

life,  art,  etc.,  which  had  to  be  adapted  to  the  overpopulation 
of  the  world  and  to  the  stratification  of  the  body  politic. 
The  most  extensive  of  all  earthly  transformations  required 
the  unhampered  freedom  of  the  individual ;  opposing  forces 
and  nationalities  had  to  share  among  themselves  the  work 
of  the  world  ;  this  work  could  never  have  been  effectually 
performed  had  there  not  been  unbridled  freedom  of  thought 
and  its  methods.  Grandiose  error  was  inevitable  ;  trium- 
phant analytics  could  venture  the  last  step  of  all,  could 
impose  aims  upon  mankind — much  as  if  the  printer  were 
to  dictate  to  the  poet,  the  colourman  to  the  painter,  the 
engine  driver  to  the  traveller,  or  the  artilleryman  to  the 
military  commander. 

Faithfully  and  painstakingly  did  philosophy  again  and 
again  attempt  to  assemble  the  scattered  threads,  to  devise 
permanent  trends,  fixed  laws,  enduring  imperatives.  Vain 
was  the  endeavour  !  Philosophy  had  undertaken  a  task  of 
universal  criticism ;  had  learned  to  doubt  concepts  and  the 
world,  God  and  existence.  Nevertheless,  under  the  guidance 
of  pure  reason,  it  had  been  blind  to  the  simplest  of  prelim- 
inary questions,  namely,  whether  the  thinking,  measuring, 
and  comparing  intellect,  the  art  of  the  multiplication  table 
and  of  questioning,  is  and  must  remain  the  only  force  bestowed 
upon  the  eternal  spirit  wherewith  to  comprehend  all  things 
divine  and  human.  It  remained  intellectual  philosophy. 
The  error  was  like  that  of  a  master  of  the  theory  of  undula- 
tions who  should  endeavour  with  his  curves  and  his  diagrams 
to  interpret  the  significance  of  a  symphony ;  like  that  of  a 
meteorologist  who  should  think  that  his  weather  charts 
could  exhaustively  represent  the  rapture  of  a  spring  morning  ; 
like  that  of  a  hydraulic  engineer  who  should  attempt  with 
his  calculations  to  define  the  elemental  energies  of  the 
breakers  thundering  on  the  shore.  Philosophy  could  not 
see  why  the  tumultuous  yearning  of  the  sentiments  could 
not  be  explained  in  mathematical  and  logical  terminology, 
or  why  the  observation  and  classification  of  concepts  is  not 
applicable  to  the  supreme  experiences  of  life.  Philosophy 
exhibited  no  surprise  at  the  inadequacy  and  baldness  of  its 
own  definitions  when  these  were  presumptuously  applied 
to  the  innermost  forces  of  love,  nature,  and  the  godhead. 
It  did  not  ask  why  the  coercive  power  of  the  absolutely 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     177 

categorical  was  lacking  to  all  its  ethical  doctrines.  Still 
less  was  the  question  mooted  upon  what  presupposition 
an  absolutely  binding  force  must  repose.  To  a  demonstra- 
tion of  universal  utility,  everyone  is  entitled  to  answer,  I 
renounce  the  canon  ;  and  to  every  theoretical  formulation 
of  duty,  the  objector  can  reply,  I  shall  stand  aside  and  take 
the  consequences.  Logical  thought  can  establish  rights 
and  customs,  but  can  never  establish  absolute  valuations 
and  absolute  morality,  proof  against  all  objections.  These 
can  flow  from  nothing  else  than  the  absolute,  the  inviolably 
divine.  Only  if  all  spiritual  paths  towards  the  transcen- 
dental were  closed,  would  man  be  entitled  to  work  out  con- 
ventional formulas  of  morality  through  the  investigatory 
power  of  the  understanding.  But  the  transcendental  path 
stands  gloriously  wide.  It  is  not  the  way  of  the  churches 
and  the  cloisters,  of  dogma  and  ritual,  but  the  way  of  spiritual 
experience  and  contemplation,  and  everyone  has  set  his  foot 
upon  this  way  who,  freed  from  the  narrow  and  clamorous 
aims  of  intellectual  thought,  freed  from  the  trammels  of 
desire,  has  in  reverent  silence  surrendered  himself  to  love, 
nature,  and  the  godhead.  It  is  true  that  upon  this  road 
we  cannot  walk  by  the  light  of  traditional  experience ;  we 
cannot  walk  unamazed  as  upon  the  roads  which  the  intellect, 
far-seeing  and  unchangeable,  has  made  for  itself  during 
millenniums.  We  go  astray,  we  are  struck  dumb,  we  stand 
abashed  before  the  gates  of  the  realm  where  the  tongue 
we  speak  is  inadequate  to  our  task.  The  eternal  certainty 
drives  us  onwards ;  we  return  home,  our  eyes  filled  with 
imperishable  memories ;  we  rediscover  the  substance  of 
these  memories  in  the  sayings  and  teachings  of  the  greatest 
among  us,  who  have  all  delivered  the  same  message,  the 
message  of  love  ;  who  have  all  proclaimed  the  kingdom  of 
the  soul  and  the  experience  of  God. 

These  are  but  a  few  words  ;  they  seem  old  and  outworn, 
and  they  are  unfathomable.  Not  a  single  one  of  the  prob- 
lems of  life,  even  if  it  relate  to  the  most  remote  and  trivial 
matters,  but  can  have  the  clear  nucleus  of  its  truth  and 
worthiness  illumined  by  immersion  in  this  spring.  No 
entanglement  and  no  error  can  be  so  gross  as  to  be  insus- 
ceptible of  solution  in  the  light  of  intuited  truth.  All  values 
shade  off  into  one  another ;  all  judgments  become  things 

12 


178    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

felt  instead  of  things  merely  known.  Even  our  fugitive 
earthly  life  maintains  its  rights  :  not  as  an  ultimate  thing, 
which  can  presume  to  deduce  good  and  evil  out  of  its  own 
indigence  ;  but  as  the  orbis  pictus  from  which  we  learn  while 
fixing  our  gaze  on  higher  things,  as  the  school  of  the  heart 
and  the  will,  as  the  palestra  of  the  mortal  body,  which  is 
not  an  end  in  itself,  nor  competent  to  provide  ultimate 
happiness  and  ultimate  misery,  nor  worthy  of  ultimate 
passion  and  despair,  but  which  rather  signifies  to  us  a  duty 
and  a  heritage  and  a  fugitive  destiny,  which  we  accept 
seriously  and  with  dignity,  nay,  which  we  have  to  love. 

It  is  not  the  philosophy  of  the  intellect  which  has  shown 
us  the  old  and  the  new  twofold  path  to  the  world  and  to  God  ; 
our  guide  has  been  the  intuitive  force  which  has  been  known 
by  many  names,  and  which  we  shall  term  spiritual  insight. 
This  will  take  over  the  old  heritage  of  the  leadership  of  man- 
kind, the  heritage  which  religion  had  to  relinquish,  and  which 
intellectual  philosophy  was  incompetent  to  take  over.  Inas- 
much as  we  live  and  die  by  our  faith  in  this  insight,  the 
question  as  to  the  certainty  of  the  doctrine  does  not  arise. 

It  might  seem  to  many  as  if  the  world  and  life,  con- 
templated from  such  an  outlook,  might  no  longer  be  treated 
seriously ;  as  if  once  again  there  would  be  a  lack  of  driving 
energy  in  the  form  of  active  passion  ;  as  if  mankind,  giving 
itself  up  to  quietistic  contemplation,  would  become  soft 
and  too  easily  satisfied.  It  is  true  that  greed  and  fear, 
wanton  pride  and  desperate  grief,  will  cease  to  trouble  us. 
But  these  are  not  the  passions  which  have  created  the  great 
things  of  the  world.  Wonderment  at  the  purposive  intelli- 
gence and  its  mechanistic  deeds  will  pale.  Already  to-day 
we  realise  how  easy  of  acquisition  and  how  routinist  in  its 
uniformity  is  this  force,  which  can  level  but  cannot  create, 
which  can  see  but  lacks  illuminative  insight.  Nevertheless 
the  world  will  not  grow  unwise.  There  was  a  time  when 
walking  and  speaking  were  new  acquirements,  which  tasked 
all  the  energies  of  man.  To-day  these  have  become  easy 
and  automatic ;  we  can  walk  and  talk  at  the  same  time, 
can  talk  and  think  at  the  same  time.  Ordinary  thought  has 
become  a  commonplace.  Our  days  and  often  our  nights 
are  filled  with  it.  Sometimes  we  would  fain  flee  from  the 
pitiless  stream  of  undesired  thought.  Then  we  sink  into 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     179 

sleep  while  yet  meditating.  How  imperfectly  we  have 
mastered  even  this  inconsiderable  art  of  thought,  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  we  are  far  more  conscious  of  thought, 
at  least  of  abstract  thought  and  of  fundamental  resolves, 
than  we  are  of  breathing.  The  more  scope  we  give  to  medita- 
tive contemplation  freed  from  the  trammels  of  desire,  the 
more  frequently  the  laborious  process  of  judgment  is  regu- 
lated by  pure  intuition,  the  more  easily  and  confidently  does 
the  intellectual  spirit  do  its  work,  the  more  profoundly  does 
it  become  absorbed  into  the  sphere  of  surmounted  things. 
If  we  compare  the  luminous  simplicity  and  confidence  which 
happily  trained  and  free-spirited  human  beings  display 
in  their  resolves,  with  the  plodding  laboriousness  and  the 
indecision  of  persons  whose  type  is  dominantly  intellectual, 
we  gain  some  idea  of  the  unconscious  and  unassuming 
mastery  to  which  intellectual  thought  will  ripen.  When 
that  day  comes,  it  will  render  far  greater  services  to  man- 
kind than  can  be  rendered  by  such  as  ourselves,  envious 
and  parsimonious,  and  badly  and  parsimoniously  trained 
even  in  the  use  of  our  own  chosen  instrument  of  thought. 

The  spiritual  characteristic  of  those  future  days  will  not 
be  unwisdom,  but  the  overcoming  of  trite  wisdom  by  the 
certainty  of  the  soul's  judgment.  The  uncertainty  of  our 
day,  and  of  the  wisest  among  us,  in  valuation  and  judgment 
is  unexampled,  for  never  before  has  a  similar  superfluity  of 
unrestrained  intellect  been  let  loose  upon  the  world,  and 
never  before  has  the  intellect  in  like  manner  unleashed  and 
justified  the  undiscriminating  arbitrariness  of  the  feelings. 
Love  and  hate  in  their  violent  transformations,  our  judg- 
ments of  what  is  tolerable,  what  is  just  and  reasonable,  are 
no  less  vacillating  and  unintuitive  than  our  aesthetic  judgment, 
which  mars  the  world.  Since  everything  can  be  proved, 
day  after  day  everything  is  proved,  and  every  proof  finds 
acceptance.  Yet  every  day  brings  proof  to  a  small  number 
of  persons,  that  even  in  our  own  time  the  few  who  creatively 
embody  the  world  because  they  create  their  being  and  their 
judgment  out  of  the  depths  of  intuition,  that  these  rarest 
and  best,  no  matter  what  their  origin  or  what  their  pro- 
fession, feel  alike  and  proclaim  the  same  message  in  all 
matters  of  weighty  import,  to  the  greater  glory  of  absolute 
truth.  We  do  not  exceed  reasonable  limits  in  our  hope  that 


180    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

a  time  is  at  hand  wherein  a  far  greater  number  will  have 
learned  to  question  heart  and  mind,  and  to  allow  the  affairs 
of  the  day,  the  world,  and  eternity  to  be  regulated  by  the 
judgment  of  innermost  sensibility.  The  result  will  not  be 
to  make  of  life  a  cold  and  calculated  game,  even  though  the 
eager  longing  for  display  should  vanish,  even  though  many 
foolish  joys  and  secret  lusts  should  perish.  Ardent  passions 
will  be  enkindled  by  a  higher  will ;  and  since  the  domain 
of  this  will  is  no  longer  to  be  one  of  need,  compulsion,  and 
animality,  its  seal  will  be  freedom.  What  the  future  will 
bring  will  not  be  indifference  towards  mankind,  cold  compas- 
sion, and  polite  estrangement ;  for  when  the  instruments 
of  the  baser  struggle  for  bread  and  respect  have  been  worn  out, 
when  competition  and  rivalry,  envy  and  malice,  hypocrisy 
and  lust  for  power,  have  come  to  an  end,  there  will  flourish, 
as  to-day  among  the  best,  and  as  in  all  great  epochs,  a  sense 
of  responsibility,  care  for  the  community,  communal  senti- 
ment and  solidarity.  We  need  not  dread  the  prevalence  of 
the  two  opposing  forms  of  earthbound  mentality,  namely, 
nihilism  and  materialist  credulity;  for  the  despair  which 
impels  to  scepticism  is  passing,  and  with  it  poverty,  which 
inspires  all  the  false  prayers  and  superstitious  petitions 
for  earthly  advantage.  The  spirit  of  gratitude  and  self- 
sacrifice,  of  silence  and  of  love,  will  rise  to  the  level  of  true 
transcendentalism. 

The  last  of  the  prophets  proclaimed  to  the  millenniums 
the  triad  of  faith,  hope,  and  love  ;  and  all  divine,  earthly, 
and  human  relationships  are  comprised  in  these  words.  A 
dead  epoch,  an  epoch  knowing  naught  of  revelation,  has 
overshadowed  them.  Faith  is  regarded  as  the  irksome 
and  yet  imperative  duty  of  accepting  as  true,  things  of 
whose  untruth  one  is  really  convinced ;  it  is  the  sacrifice, 
not  only  of  the  intellect,  but  likewise  of  the  conscience,  in 
obedience  to  an  order.  Hope  is  misinterpreted  as  the 
expectation  that  in  accordance  with  the  principle  of  requital 
this  sacrifice  shall  not  be  fruitless  but  profitable.  Vanished 
is  the  commandment  of  love.  All  that  remains  is  com- 
passion, and  a  cold,  calculated  sentiment  in  favour  of  the 
equalisation  of  needs.  This  is  the  only  oasis  of  peace  in  the 
struggle  of  the  desires.  Effective  love  of  mankind  has  not 
been  able  to  maintain  its  place  beside  the  love  of  the  sexes, 
the  love  of  kindred,  and  the  love  of  friends. 


THE       WAY       OP        MORALS     181 

This  is  not  the  place  for  the  discussion  of  the  faith  that 
will  prevail  in  days  to  come.  We  reserve  the  matter  for  a 
subsequent  work.  Here  we  are  dealing  with  human  society. 
Consequently,  as  far  as  our  own  epoch  is  concerned,  Paul's 
dictum  is  to  be  interpreted  in  the  social  sense,  and  in  harmony 
with  the  conception  of  social  progress  which  has  already 
been  expounded.  Thus  interpreted,  the  saying  would  mean, 
self -determining  and  responsible  freedom,  solidarity,  and 
transcendentalism. 

When  our  descendants  look  back  upon  our  age,  they  will 
be  aghast  to  note  how,  during  the  few  centuries  in  which  the 
coalescence  of  strata  was  taking  place  in  Europe,  intellec- 
tualist  thinking  attained  its  climax,  and  left  behind  as  the 
token  of  its  passage  the  mechanisation  of  the  world.  We 
are  profoundly  moved  by  a  similar  sentiment  when  we  reflect 
upon  the  origins  of  our  race,  though  here  we  are  concerned 
with  stages  of  development  which  occupied  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  years.  We  are  amazed  when  we  contemplate 
the  primal  discoveries  of  the  upright  gait,  of  speech,  and  of 
fire ;  but  in  our  sentiment  towards  our  remote  progenitors 
there  is  mingled  none  of  the  bitterness  which  will  animate 
the  judgments  of  our  own  posterity.  Only  the  ascent  of 
lower  strata  that  had  previously  been  inconceivably  enslaved, 
will  seem  to  them  to  explain  the  base  and  negroid  trails  of 
our  epoch,  to  explain  the  itch  for  gauds  in  women  and  in 
men,  the  prevalence  of  fear  and  enmity,  the  furious  hoarding 
of  the  means  of  life,  the  instability  of  our  valuations,  the 
lack  of  a  standard  morality,  of  responsibility,  of  self-reliance 
and  solidarity.  Just  like  the  ages  when  feudalism  was 
collapsing,  like  the  age  when  the  system  of  classical  Greece 
was  decaying,  like  the  age  when  the  Roman  empire  was 
tottering  to  its  fall,  our  own  epoch  will  be  regarded  as  at 
once  an  end  and  a  beginning.  But  the  unprecedented 
merit  of  our  generations  will  be  recognised  to  have  been  that 
the  rebirth  was  not  the  outcome  of  foreign  conquest,  but  of 
an  inward  impulse  of  the  will. 

We  now  have  to  ask,  Is  it  possible  and  desirable  to 
speed  the  coming  day  ;  to  hasten  the  birth  of  the  future  by 
laws  and  institutions,  by  force  or  by  allurement,  by  example 
and  precept  ?  We  must  never  forget  that  it  is  feeling  which 
initiates  the  movement  of  institutions  ;  reluctantly,  and  yet 


182    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

obediently  at  last,  the  world  movement  is  guided  by  the 
sentiment,  as  the  hands  of  the  watch  obey  the  impulsion  of 
the  spring.  The  wheel  work  is  driven  by  the  sentiment,  not 
conversely  ;  and  no  premature  moving  on  of  the  hands  can 
influence  the  machinery.  Slowly  there  is  ripening  an  epoch 
upon  whose  profoundest  consciousness  we  are  impinging 
for  the  first  time  to-day.  Neither  the  vernal  storms  of  war 
nor  the  radiations  of  peace  can  force  their  way  into  that 
interior  calm  of  the  world  where  the  grain  of  life  germinates. 
Spirit  engenders  spirit,  whereas  things  make  things.  The 
spirit  is  not  dependent  even  upon  the  will  itself ;  will  can 
neither  create  nor  destroy  spirit.  When  the  time  is  ripe, 
more  numerous  will  grow  the  voices  of  those  who  demand 
a  new  justice,  nor  will  these  voices  be  silenced  until  there 
shall  have  been  awakened,  out  of  the  night  of  doubt,  the 
certainty  of  new  values,  of  the  goods  of  an  inviolable  truth. 
These  goods,  which  are  disclosed  to  the  new  insight  of  our 
day,  are  goods  of  the  soul.  The  coming  of  their  reign  has 
been  announced,  to-day,  as  ages  since ;  their  meaning  is 
unchanged,  though  their  temporal  embodiment  has  been 
transformed.  But  the  establishment  of  this  kingdom  begins 
in  the  depths  of  consciousness,  and  only  after  the  work  has 
been  done  in  the  depths,  does  the  seed  germinate  and  the 
growth  appear  in  the  light  of  day.  Within  the  dying  under- 
growth of  the  old  system,  the  everyday  will  of  the  individual 
may  lead  him,  despairingly  or  hopefully  as  the  case  may  be, 
to  cut  for  himself  this  pathway  or  that.  No  matter.  The 
resistance  of  dead  masses  can  retard  nothing  ;  the  sacrificial 
will  that  is  solely  concerned  with  material  objects  can  hasten 
nothing.  Should  an  awakened  conscience  lead  anyone  to 
offer  sacrifice  of  his  possessions,  he  will  bear  witness  thereby, 
but  will  not  perform  any  decisive  deed,  for  some  new  injustice 
will  gain  the  mastery  over  that  which  he  has  sacrificed.  The 
awakening  economic  conscience  will  manifest  itself.  Owner- 
ship will  be  regarded  as  nothing  more  than  the  custody  of 
goods  held  in  trust,  as  a  stewardship  of  which  account  must 
be  rendered.  Ownership  will  not  be  arbitrary  but  responsible. 
No  longer  will  it  be  possible  for  life  to  be  lived  or  work  to  be 
done  for  the  sake  of  gain  or  for  the  sake  of  enjo3*ment. 

The  significance  of  the  new  development  may  be  explained 
in  this  way.     According  to  the  prevailing  political  and  moral 


THE        WAY        OF        MORALS     183 

creed,  the  individual's  political  and  moral  activities  must 
not  be  isolated  and  self-regarding,  but  must  be  subjected 
to  the  life  of  a  higher  unity  by  give  and  take,  by  limitation, 
and  by  responsibility.  To-day  this  principle  must  be  ex- 
tended to  the  whole  field  of  economic  and  social  existence, 
so  that  a  higher  freedom  becomes  our  aim  in  place  of  a  lower. 
Individual  freedom  belongs  to  the  realm  of  intuition,  of 
inward  experience,  and  of  the  things  which  these  create  ; 
it  belongs  to  works  of  transcendentalism,  the  heart,  art, 
and  thought. 

If  thereby  the  last  realm  of  human  activity,  the  economic 
and  social  sphere,  is  divested  of  its  apolitical  arbitrariness 
and  lifted  to  the  plane  of  mutual  responsibility,  divine  will, 
and  spiritual  ascent ;  if  a  new  morality  and  a  new  respon- 
sibility spiritualise  even  the  most  material  desires  of  humanity; 
then  it  will  prove  impossible  to  lay  upon  any  conceivable 
form  of  state  the  burdens  of  so  extensive  an  organisation  and 
so  highly  centralised  a  control.  We  are  faced  with  the 
political  problem  of  upbuilding  the  state  in  an  entirely  new 
sense.  We  are  faced  with  the  problem  with  which  for 
centuries  religion  and  philosophy  wrestled  as  the  highest 
earthly  obligation  of  theoretical  thought,  until,  at  the  dawn 
of  the  mechanistic  and  nationalistic  eras  of  historical  and 
racial  practice,  religious  and  philosophical  theory  became 
subordinated  to  the  balance  between  tradition  and  temporal 
utility. 

If  the  unbridled  and  aimless  essence  of  human  movement 
and  association  requires  anchorage  in  the  transcendental 
and  the  absolute,  needs  the  formative  energy  of  a  new  ethic 
and  new  customs,  it  is  obvious  that  the  state  cannot  rest 
content  with  what  has  been  handed  down  from  the  past, 
nor  with  the  minimum  obtainable  by  the  least  expenditure 
of  effort.  Our  exposition,  therefore,  must  henceforward  be 
devoted  to  the  political  way.  We  have  now  made  acquaint- 
ance with  the  way  of  ethics.  It  set  out  from  the  law  of  the 
soul ;  it  leads  to  the  law  of  responsibility,  and  to  a  life  lived, 
not  for  the  sake  of  happiness  and  power,  but  for  the  sake  of 
justice  and  God. 


3 
THE  WAY  OF  THE  WILL 

Now  that  we  are  preparing  to  set  foot  upon  the  third  way, 
the  way  of  the  will,  of  the  communal  will  which  is  the 
mainspring  of  all  political  activity,  I  feel  called  upon  to 
make  a  personal  avowal,  and  I  shall  for  the  first  time  in 
many  years  refer  to  my  own  individual  experience. 

I  write  these  words  on  the  afternoon  of  July  3ist,  1916. 
To-morrow  is  the  second  anniversary  of  the  opening  of 
the  European  war.  In  a  thousand  cities  there  will  be  proud 
and  sad,  serious  and  confident  utterances,  and  the  first 
slight  symptoms  of  weariness  will  be  replaced  by  hope  in 
victory,  power,  and  happiness. 

Across  the  tree  tops  beneath  my  window  I  look  out  into 
the  tinted  distance  over  the  flats,  the  meadows,  and  the 
stubbles,  towards  the  silvery  dunes  on  the  horizon.  A  rich 
harvest  is  being  carted  ;  the  year's  food  supply  is  secure. 
Far  beyond  my  range  of  vision,  along  the  blood-stained 
eastern  and  western  fronts,  the  mad  onslaught  of  the  enemy 
has,  we  learn,  once  again  been  repulsed.  This,  we  are 
assured,  will  prove  to  have  been  the  last  attack  ;  soon  we 
shall  come  to  terms,  and  peace  will  follow.  Are  we  to  demand 
much  or  little  ?  The  parties  are  fighting  about  the  How, 
not  about  the  Whether. 

It  is  two  years  to-day  since  I  felt  myself  to  be  so  dis- 
tressingly aloof  from  the  thought  of  my  fellow  countrymen, 
in  so  far  as  they  looked  upon  the  war  as  an  ordeal  which 
would  bring  salvation. 

For  years  I  had  foreseen  the  twilight  of  the  nations, 
and  had  heralded  it  in  speech  and  writing.  I  discerned  its 
signs  in  the  impudent  folly  that  paraded  the  streets  of  our 
great  towns ;  in  the  arrogance  of  materialised  life ;  in  the 

184 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     185 

mad  extravagances  of  the  centenary  celebration  of  1813  ; 
in  the  disgraceful  affairs  of  KOpenick  and  Zabern  ;  above 
all,  in  the  deadly  sloth  of  our  wealthier  bourgeoisie,  immersed 
in  business  affairs  and  shunning  responsibility.  In  the 
year  before  the  war,  for  the  last  time,  I  drew  attention  to 
coming  events,  saying  that  evil  days  would  befall  through 
the  working  of  transcendental  law,  and  not  as  the  outcome 
of  political  necessity,  for  Prussia  had  never  been  taught 
anything  except  by  blows. 

Rejoicing  in  the  July  sunshine,  the  prosperous  and  happy 
populace  of  Berlin  responded  to  the  summons  of  war. 
Brightly  clad,  with  flashing  eyes,  the  living  and  those  conse- 
crated to  death  felt  themselves  to  be  at  the  zenith  of  vital 
power  and  political  existence.  A  shadow  of  hatred  passed 
across  the  surging  crowd.  The  report  ran  that  a  Russian 
spy  had  been  arrested  on  the  steps  of  the  cathedral.  He 
had  been  disguised,  it  was  said,  as  a  postman,  and  was 
carrying  hand  grenades.  But  soon  brows  cleared ;  the 
momentary  alarm  was  merged  in  the  multiple  tensions  of 
hope  for  victory  and  longing  for  the  fight. 

I  could  not  but  share  in  the  pride  of  the  sacrifice  and 
the  power.  Nevertheless,  this  tumult  seemed  to  me  a  dance 
of  death,  the  overture  to  a  doom  which  I  had  foreseen 
obscurely  and  with  dread — with  all  the  more  dread  in  that 
it  had  been  impossible  for  me  to  rejoice  at  its  coming. 

What  time  the  triumphant  armies  were  surging  west- 
ward, while  the  towers  of  Paris  were  in  sight,  and  while  a 
second  victorious  crowning  at  Versailles  shimmered  before 
the  popular  imagination,  my  own  dominant  thought  was, 
How  shall  we  be  rescued  from  bitter  need,  from  rigid  encircle- 
ment, from  the  death-in-life  of  armed  peace  ?  At  that 
time  I  was  a  member  of  the  Prussian  ministry  for  war, 
contributing  such  ideas  as  I  could  in  support  of  the  attempt 
to  break  the  blockade.  The  fact  that  it  was  necessary  to 
take  measures  providing  for  years  of  war,  suffices  to  show 
that  the  anxieties  of  those  days  are  not  exaggerated  in  my 
mind  by  the  tricks  of  memory. 

I  believed  then,  and  I  still  believe  to-day,  that  God  will 
send  us  an  honourable  way  out  of  our  troubles.  But  just 
as  little  do  I  believe  now  in  a  peace  that  will  bring  us  universal 
happiness,  as  I  believed  in  any  such  issue  during  those 


186    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

enthusiastic  days  of  our  national  history  For  now,  as 
then,  the  issue  will  be  determined,  not  by  political  and 
militarist  influences,  but  by  transcendental  considerations. 

I  do  not  believe  in  our  right  to  guide  the  destinies  of 
the  world.  Nor  do  I  believe  that  any  other  nation  possesses 
such  a  right.  Neither  ours  nor  any  other  nation  has  earned 
it.  We  have  no  right  to  decide  the  destinies  of  the  world, 
for  we  have  not  learned  to  guide  our  own  destinies.  We 
have  no  right  to  force  our  modes  of  thought  and  feeling 
upon  other  civilised  nations ;  for  whatever  weaknesses 
these  nations  may  display,  we  for  our  part  have  not  yet 
acquired  for  ourselves  a  will  to  responsibility. 

Ardently  and  confidently  do  I  trust  in  a  happy  issue. 
My  fears  are  for  what  lies  beyond.  This  war  is  not  a  begin- 
ning, but  an  end  ;  its  legacy  will  be  a  legacy  of  shreds  and 
patches.  All  will  wrangle  for  the  possession  of  these  vestiges 
— nations,  parties,  classes,  churches,  families.  Were  it  not 
that  decay  ever  teems  with  the  germs  of  new  life,  we  should 
no  longer  dare  to  breathe.  The  new  life  can  be  no  other 
than  the  awakening  of  the  soul,  for  it  is  manifest  that  this 
seed  alone  can  germinate  when  all  other  kinds  of  seed  have 
been  trampled  under  foot  and  destroyed.  Does  it  matter 
that  not  one  of  us  who  is  alive  to-day  will  survive  to  see 
the  fulfilment  ?  No  and  yes.  We  are  sure  of  the  future, 
but  we  die  as  a  generation  of  transition,  whose  doom  it  is 
to  serve  as  fertilising  material  for  the  growth  of  a  harvest 
which  we  ourselves  are  unworthy  to  reap 

What  have  these  confessions  to  do  with  days  to  come  ? 
They  signify  a  descent  out  of  the  free  realm  of  thought  in 
which  we  were  moving,  to  the  sphere  of  our  daily  needs. 
We  cannot  escape  the  task  of  anchoring  to  reality  the  thought 
spheres  whose  aim  and  fulfilment  are  not  bound  to  any 
definite  period  of  secular  progress ;  for  if  they  be  truth, 
even  though  they  should  seem  to  conflict  with  the  extant, 
it  is  at  least  necessary  to  indicate  their  attachments  to  the 
solid  structure  of  the  present,  to  make  the  breaches  through 
which  the  first  intimations  of  the  new  realm  will  come. 
Laborious  work  this ;  digging  in  the  extant ;  bound  in 
the  shackles  of  space,  time,  and  circumstance.  For  a  while 
we  must  lose  precision  of  thought,  must  lose  contact  with 
the  sublime  We  shall  need  powerful  tools.  Tapping  on 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     187 

the  walls,  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  man  of  culture,  will 
avail  nothing.  Much  that  we  have  learned  to  love  will 
have  to  be  cleared  away  with  the  axe. 

If  the  descent  from  heaven  to  earth  seems  oppressive, 
assuredly  we  verge  upon  the  inhuman  when,  to  a  people 
bleeding  from  its  wounds,  to  a  people  which  has  been  trans- 
formed into  an  army,  which  is  doing  unheard-of  deeds  and 
bearing  unheard-of  sufferings,  if  to  such  a  people,  a  harshness 
which  seems  to  be  ingratitude,  though  it  is  really  love, 
offers  an  obscure  and  difficult  task  Yet  harder  is  it  if, 
in  the  transition  from  a  truce  of  parties  which  has  been 
difficult  enough  to  keep,  to  a  struggle  of  all  against  all,  the 
voice  to  be  raised  is  not  the  voice  of  peace,  but  the  voice 
which  condemns  all  the  works  and  all  the  values  which  had 
seemed  stable. 

For  a  whole  year  this  distressing  consideration  has  pre- 
vented the  continuation  of  my  book.  I  now  resume  the 
writing  of  it  because  my  duty  impels  me  to  deliver  the  message 
entrusted  to  me,  and  because  I  believe  that,  in  the  conflict 
between  temporal  considerations  and  the  urge  of  the  abso- 
lute, the  choice  of  that  which  knows  nothing  of  time  cannot 
lead  me  astray. 

The  first  need  is  to  expound  a  number  of  preliminary 
questions  which  have  in  part  been  discussed  in  preceding 
sections. 

i.  Tradition  and  Ideal.  In  Germany,  for  a  hundred 
years,  the  historical  method  has  been  the  only  method  em- 
ployed in  the  study  of  political  affairs.  It  may  therefore 
be  permissible  for  once  in  a  way  to  attack  this  method  with 
its  own  weapons. 

In  so  far  as  our  commonly  recognised  aims  are  not  merely 
transmuted  material  interests,  they  do  not  arise  out  of  the 
hereditary  work  of  politicians  (as  in  other  western  lands 
by  the  activity  of  political  parties,  and  in  eastern  countries 
by  dynastic  transmission),  but  out  of  the  professorial 
activities  of  our  German  men  of  learning ;  for  our  parties 
are  young,  with  no  experience  of  responsibility,  and  blinded 
by  powerful  material  interests  ;  and  as  for  the  crown,  since 
it  has  always  defended  a  specific  form  of  government,  it 
has  perforce  been  partisan. 


188     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

The  investigator,  by  his  very  nature,  stands  in  polar 
opposition  to  the  man  of  action,  to  the  politician  and  the 
business  man  His  vehicle  is  proof,  which  is  diametrically 
contrasted  with  unprovable  instinct,  with  intuition.  In 
the  field  of  action,  it  does  not  so  much  concern  us  whether 
a  thing  is  true  ;  our  concern  is  to  ascertain  which  of  two  or 
many  true  things  or  complexes  of  things  is  the  weightier. 
To  investigate  implies  research,  and  to  search  is  not  to  weigh. 
It  is  true  that  the  conscientious  investigator  will  have  occa- 
sion in  the  course  of  his  work  to  weigh  things  against  one 
another,  as  for  instance  when  he  is  faced  by  the  problem 
as  to  whether  documents  are  trustworthy ;  but  this  work 
of  weighing  and  testing  takes  place  in  the  sphere  of  the 
traditional,  the  weighing  is  an  accessory  method,  not  an 
essential  principle  of  research. 

This  principle  of  weighing,  however,  is  not  the  ultimate 
principle.  The  ultimate  principle  is  to  feel  aware  of  aims 
which  are  not  derived  from  research  and  study,  but  which 
arise  in  the  mind  from  a  consciously  or  unconsciously 
intuited  outlook  on  the  universe.  To  the  thinker,  inviolable 
knowledge,  memory,  and  well-tried  and  typical  methods  of 
thought,  are  indispensable  aids.  To  the  man  of  action 
they  are  casual  props.  Again  and  again  he  must  change 
the  materials  with  which  he  is  dealing ;  his  memory  must 
repeatedly  be  emptied  and  recharged  ;  his  methods  of  thought 
and  decision  have  continually  to  be  improvised  and  reno- 
vated. His  activity  is  struggle,  and  the  only  fixed  point 
is  the  goal  of  his  endeavour.  He  who  is  fitted  for  action  is 
not  fitted  for  research.  The  man  of  action  is  paralysed 
by  the  demand  that  he  should  remain  unbiased  by  others' 
thought  and  uninfluenced  by  collected  materials.  He  who 
is  fitted  for  research  will  discern  an  unreasonable  element 
of  venturesomeness  in  the  enduring  tension  of  unprovable 
resolve.  The  sphere  of  action  is  far  more  closely  akin  to 
the  sphere  of  artistic  creation  than  it  is  to  the  sphere  of 
learning. 

If  the  man  of  learning  enters  the  field  of  political  activity, 
he  will  find  it  necessary  as  far  as  his  aims  are  concerned  to 
deduce  them  from  the  extant.  Had  Providence  followed 
his  methods,  there  would  have  been  no  great  turning  points 
in  history ;  the  tendency  dominant  at  any  time,  continuing 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     189 

in  operation,  would  have  led  to  an  ever  closer  approximation 
to  the  unattainable  point  of  indifference. 

Subjectively,  the  political  method  of  men  of  learning 
manifests  itself  as  an  avowed  leaning  towards  tradition, 
towards  deduction  from  local,  temporal,  physical,  and 
human  data,  as  an  aversion  for  all  that  is  immediate  and 
ideal,  for  all  that  bears  the  sign  of  the  dogmatic  and  the 
speculative. 

Through  an  optical  illusion,  the  continuity  of  the  past 
seems    to    justify    the    historico-professorial    conception    of 
politics.     The  illusion  is  threefold.     First  of  all,  we  have 
the  rust  of  the  ages.     Thereby,  things  essentially  dissimilar 
seem  to  grow  together,  inasmuch  as  even  the  paradoxical 
is   encrusted   with   an   outgrowth,   with   a   local   historical 
deposit.     The  Russian  campaign  of  Napoleon,  two  thousand 
years    hence    when    the    relevant    documents    have    been 
destroyed,  will  perchance,  in  all  its  paradoxy,  assume  the 
aspect  of  a  sun  myth.      But  to  us,  who  are  familiar  with 
the  details,  this  campaign  seems  characteristically  French. 
Secondly,  in  continuity  itself  lies  an  illusion,  for  continuity 
is  only  recognisable  in  retrospect.      When  we  are  waiting 
to  see  the  unknown  blossoms  of  a  new  plant,  we  may  from 
the  stem  and  the  leaves  be  led  to  create  imaginatively  all 
sorts  of  possible  structures  ;    only  when  we  see  the  actual 
flower  will  its  form  and  colour  seem  to  us  to  possess  a  neces- 
sary   fitness.     Thus    the    observer    perceives    aposteriori  a 
continuity  which  he  regards  as  unambiguous,  until,  from 
other  plants  of  the  same  species,  he  sees  some  variant  of  the 
flower  spring,  making  plain  to  him  the  variability  of  the 
function.     Last  of  all,  retrospective  contemplation  modifies 
our   presuppositions.     When   the   observer   is   taken   abso- 
lutely by  surprise,  in  the  shock  of  this  surprise  he  is  apt 
to  discover  in  the  obscure  antecedents,  new  determinative 
qualities  which  had  hitherto  been  unnoted,  and  which  will 
henceforward    transform    for    him    the    past    and    its    pre- 
suppositions.    The  image  of  the  present  is  almost  as  sub- 
jective as  the  image  of  the  future  ;    and  the  past,  however 
objective  it  may  appear,  is  likewise  subject  to  modification. 
Objectively  considered,  traditionalism  is  the  element  of 
inertia,   and   is   justified   as   such.      The   institutions   of   a 
community  must  not  be  unduly  labile,  for,  if  they  are,  the 


190     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

community  will  resemble  a  negro  republic.  In  most  cases, 
it  is  true,  the  coalescing  roots  of  the  interests  suffice  to 
stabilise  the  thing  that  is.  If  the  weight  of  tradition  be 
superadded,  stability  is  yet  further  increased.  If  tradition 
dominates,  the  system  becomes  unalterable.  Should  this 
happen  in  a  country  like  our  own,  which  in  any  case  is  averse 
from  political  initiative  and  from  any  modifications  of 
form,  there  will  be  requisite  and  enhanced  admixture  of 
speculative  idealism  and  intuitive  energy  if  the  dead  weight 
of  the  extant  is  to  be  moved. 

Herein  we  see  the  solution  of  the  antimony  between 
tradition  and  the  ideal.  The  traditional  will  always  be 
strong  enough  to  assimilate  the  innovational  to  itself,  and 
thus  to  ensure  the  continuity  of  events.  The  ideal,  however 
abstract  and  unsettling  it  may  seem,  must  animate  with 
new  impulses  things  that  have  been  petrified  by  time. 

2.  The  German  concept  of  freedom,  which  is  likewise 
a  creation  of  erudition,  contains,  when  divested  of  meta- 
physical trappings,  some  such  declaration  as  the  following. 
You  do  not  desire  to  be  free  from  all  restraints.  An  organic 
restriction  is  interposed  between  licence  and  freedom.  You 
are  riot  subjected  to  any  other  restriction  than  this  organic, 
divinely  willed  restriction.  (Proof  is  rarely  adduced  in 
support  of  this  subordinate  clause.  In  many  cases,  a  hint 
is  given  that  we  are  no  worse  than  others.)  If  you  recognise 
this,  you  have  inner  freedom  In  addition  you  have  trans- 
cendental, moral,  aesthetic,  and  religious  freedom. 

Unquestionably,  by  this  chain  of  thought  the  slavery 
alike  of  ancient  and  of  modern  times,  the  Inquisition, 
absolutism,  serfdom,  the  sweating  system,  and  the  excesses 
of  colonial  policy,  can  all  be  justified,  for  everything  depends 
on  the  subordinate  clause ;  the  objects  of  our  interest 
always  retain  transcendental  freedom.  But  the  decisive 
factor  in  this  subordinate  clause  is  the  concept  of  the  organic  ; 
and  that  this  concept  is  elastically  interpreted  by  those  who 
put  forward  the  above  chain  of  reasoning,  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that  the  hereditary  dependence  of  human  being 
upon  human  being,  of  one  social  stratum  upon  another, 
of  one  religion  upon  another,  and  in  some  cases  even  of 
one  nation  upon  another,  is  held  to  fall  within  the  limits 
of  things  divinely  willed. 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    191 

But  if  in  very  truth  the  relationship  thus  alleged  to  be 
divinely  willed  be  not  organic  at  all,  it  displays  the  aspect 
of  arbitrary  coercion,  which  cannot  be  subsumed  under  the 
concept  of  freedom,  however  philosophically  that  concept 
may  be  defined.  Moreover,  the  intolerability  of  the  coercion 
increases  with  the  arbitrariness,  which  can  be  justified  neither 
by  historical  tradition  nor  by  authority. 

Since,  however,  as  concerns  the  casuistry  and  the 
criteria  of  the  German  concept  of  freedom,  those  who  formu- 
lated that  concept,  to  wit  the  professional  men  of  learning, 
have  usually  had  the  decisive  voice,  the  civic  associations 
of  these  persons  are  determinative  for  the  dominant  view. 
The  civic  position  of  the  professorial  man  of  learning  is 
decided  by  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  members 
of  his  own  profession.  He  is  not,  like  the  professional 
artist,  dependent  upon  a  public ;  he  is  not,  like  the  man 
of  business,  dependent  upon  legislation  and  favourable  turns 
in  affairs ;  not,  like  the  statesman,  upon  parliaments, 
official  superiors,  and  sovereigns  ;  not,  like  the  proletarian, 
upon  the  employing  class.  In  his  civic  life,  no  less  than  in 
his  spiritual,  he  lives  in  a  republic  of  learning,  in  a  state 
within  the  state.  Apart  from  the  working  of  Providence 
and  the  tax  collector,  the  only  interference  with  the  affairs 
of  this  inner  state  comes  at  intervals  from  the  gentle  hand 
of  the  minister  for  education.  The  position  of  the  profes- 
sorial caste  is  assured  by  a  far-reaching  authority  over 
those  beneath ;  a  pleasant  relationship  towards  those  above 
is  established  by  traditional  forms  and  amenities,  and  is 
embodied  in  inviolable  academic,  courtly,  and  political 
dignities.  This  elastic  and  fluctuating  balance  within  the 
fluid  body  of  society  is  quite  agreeable  to  its  constitutive 
elements,  and  can  readily  be  interpreted  as  the  essence  of 
political  freedom.  Here  we  find  a  well-understood  organic 
association  united  with  spiritual  and  civic  mobility ; 
authority  and  dominion  united  with  a  perfectly  endurable 
measure  of  subjection.  Praise  of  the  professorial  career 
becomes  an  apologia  for  German  freedom. 

Assuming  for  the  sake  of  argument  something  that  will 
not  occur  in  actual  fact,  that  the  men  of  learning  will  hence- 
forward, recognising  themselves  to  be  prejudiced  persons, 
renounce  the  attempt  to  arbitrate  concerning  the  iriterpre- 


192    I^N        DAYS        TO        COME 

tation  of  the  concept  of  freedom — we  have  to  ask  what 
possibility  of  forming  a  judgment  of  our  own  remains  to  us. 

Doubtless  the  criterion  of  organic  association  is  not  an 
absolute  one,  for  it  is  hemmed  in  by  certain  restrictions. 
An  association  ceases  to  be  organic  when  it  ceases  to  be 
necessary.  It  is  no  longer  necessary,  when  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  the  aim  is  attainable  with  less  restricted 
means.  Now  the  aim  is  determined  by  the  dominant 
philosophical  outlook ;  and  that  philosophical  outlook  is 
decisive  which  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  men  inde- 
pendently of  interests  and  personal  wishes. 

It  might  seem  as  if  little  had  been  gained,  since  the 
enigma  of  freedom  has  been  replaced  by  the  enigma  of  the 
philosophical  outlook.  Nevertheless,  a  great  deal  has  been 
gained,  for  henceforward  the  judgment  as  to  what  is  freedom 
and  what  is  tyranny,  is  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  historian, 
the  jurist,  and  the  administrator,  and  transferred  to  those 
of  the  practical  statesman,  who  now  decides  whether  the 
chains  are  indispensable,  and  whose  light  is  derived  from 
him  who  creates  and  receives  the  philosophical  outlook. 
Therewith  every  individual  association  has  ceased  to  be  a 
divinely  willed  end  in  itself,  and  no  association  is  inviolable. 
The  problem  of  freedom  grows  once  more  alive,  it  becomes 
a  problem  of  evolution  and  of  the  most  exalted  questions. 
The  challenger  can  no  longer  be  waived  away  from  the 
threshold  in  the  name  of  a  superior  moral  consciousness. 
The  burden  of  proof,  both  in  respect  of  philosophy  and  in 
respect  of  practice,  falls  upon  those  who  occupy  positions 
of  privilege.  Now  a  philosophy  is  not  a  haphazard  complex 
of  interests.  It  is  and  can  be  nothing  but  the  harmonious 
and  fixed  faith  which  is  rooted  in  the  depths  of  the  human 
and  the  divine.  He  who  repudiates  that  faith  and  puts 
trust  in  the  sword  for  the  defence  of  his  power,  he  who 
says  might  is  right  and  takes  his  stand  in  the  arena  of  the 
interests  instead  of  on  the  ground  where  the  struggle  is 
that  of  the  spirit,  may  join  forces  with  other  interested 
persons,  but  he  forfeits  the  right  of  appeal  to  our  human 
convictions. 

Of  all  political  outlooks,  there  is  only  one  to-day  which 
is  based  on  a  philosophy,  namely,  the  conservative  outlook, 
in  so  far  as  it  is  based  upon  Christianity — not  in  the  sense 


THE      WAY      OF       THE       WILL     193 

of  a  creed,  but  in  the  sense  of  an  absolute  faith.  This 
explains  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  its  sentiments  and  the 
way  in  which  its  powerful  convictions  tend  to  promote  the 
formation  of  character.  Nevertheless,  when  those  who 
adopt  this  outlook  wish  to  justify  the  actual  relationships  of 
society,  they  find  that  Protestant  truth  and  even  the  Chris- 
tian sentiment  of  the  middle  ages  are  altogether  inadequate 
for  the  purpose,  and  the  conservatives  are  compelled  to 
have  recourse  to  arguments  derived  from  the  sphere  of 
the  interests. 

In  contrast  with  the  accepted  forms  of  thought,  this 
book  endeavours  to  deduce  all  its  claims  out  of  the  closed 
system  of  a  philosophy  based  upon  the  nature  and  being 
of  the  soul.  Consequently  these  claims  transcend  to  some 
extent  the  domain  of  practical  politics,  and  thus  enter  the 
domain  of  transcendental  politics.  There  is  one  exception. 
The  pragmatical  aims  of  our  concluding  section  necessitate 
an  empirical  postulate,  in  order  that  we  may  enter  more 
deeply  into  the  essence  of  extant  things  and  institutions. 
This  postulate,  which  is  not  susceptible  of  unconditional 
transcendental  proof,  is  the  principle  that  the  state  is  entitled 
to  exercise  power.  Here  we  come  to  the  third  of  our  pre- 
liminary problems. 

3.  Does  a  great  state,  which  is  growing  inwardly, 
require  the  externals  of  power  ?  Self-evident  as  an  affirma- 
tive answer  may  seem  in  the  sense  of  the  politics  of  the 
interests,  the  need  may  appear  dubious  from  the  humanist 
outlook.  No  one  ever  thinks  of  despising  the  citizens  of 
the  Swiss  Confederation  or  the  citizens  of  Holland  because 
these  states  are  not  great  powers,  do  not  maintain  embassies, 
and  do  not  participate  on  equal  terms  in  the  congresses  of 
the  powers.  The  more  advanced  the  nationalistic  decay 
of  Europe,  the  more  frequent  become  the  cases  in  which 
medium-sized,  small,  and  even  insignificant  states,  are  more 
eagerly  wooed  by  the  powers,  than  the  great  and  ponderous 
imperialist  states  are  wooed,  for  the  reason  that,  in  the 
balance  of  forces,  a  most  trifling  accession  may  turn 
the  scale.  If  Europe  be  still  further  Balkanised  during  the 
next  few  generations,  there  will  inevitably  ensue  such  a 
mobility  of  the  various  alliances,  that,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  residual  national  states,  every  nationality  will 

13 


194     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

constitute  a  sort  of  arithmetical  unit,  which  will  be  allotted 
now  to  this  group  and  now  to  that,  and  which  will  exercise 
power  only  as  part  of  a  sum  total  and  in  virtue  of  the 
geographical  and  physical  strength  of  that  total. 

Fallacious,  likewise,  is  the  abstract  allegation  that  in 
the  spiritual  economy  of  the  world  this  or  that  cultural 
form  is  absolutely  indispensable,  the  allegation  that  this 
or  that  cultural  form  must  for  the  general  salvation  be 
diffused  abroad  and  universally  inoculated  with  ever 
increasing  energy.  Civilisation  has  an  extensive  potency, 
because  civilisation  is  based  upon  a  common  standard  of 
life  ;  but  culture  has  no  extensive  potency,  foi  culture  is 
based  upon  the  peculiarity  and  uniqueness  of  the  spiritual. 
The  strongest  and  most  imperishable  of  the  cultures  known 
to  history,  the  Hellenic  culture,  was  in  the  days  of  its  most 
splendid  blossoming  upborne  by  a  smaller  number  of  free 
men  than  live  to-day  in  a  single  middle-sized  provincial 
German  town.  After  its  apparent  death,  this  culture  gained 
the  victory  over  those  who  had  conquered  it.  Without 
propaganda,  it  diffused  its  reign  over  Europe,  and  has 
extended  to  China,  America,  and  Australasia.  The  ethical 
culture  of  Palestine,  considered  apart  from  the  religion  of 
Palestine,  spread  throughout  the  whole  world  after  the 
political  extinction  of  the  land  of  its  birth,  and  to-day  for 
the  first  time  is  encountering  countervailing  forces  in 
unpetrified  forms  of  faith.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if  culture, 
like  the  red  glow  of  sunset,  could  not  spread  across  the  skies 
and  cover  the  earth  until  the  star  from  which  it  radiates 
had  set.  This  much,  at  least,  is  certain,  that  no  form  of 
culture  is  ever  lost  to  the  world.  When  the  blossoming 
season  of  a  nation  (which  rarely  coincides  with  the  climax 
of  its  political  power)  is  over,  unless  it  be  content  with  a 
parody  of  its  own  past,  it  can  be  revived  only  by  the  infusion 
of  fresh  blood.  Nevertheless,  that  which  has  been  created 
becomes  part  of  the  consciousness  of  the  planetary  spirit, 
and  it  matters  nothing  if  the  records  on  parchment,  metal, 
and  stone  have  been  destroyed. 

Invincible  is  the  impulse  of  life.  Every  creature  lives 
until  it  is  willing  to  die.  But  the  collective  spirit  of  the 
nation,  like  every  other  spirit,  gives  visible  expression  to 
its  life-will  in  growth  and  multiplication.  Growth  signifies 


THE      WAY      OF       THE      WILL     195 

will  to  the  destruction  of  another,  for  life  battens  upon 
death  ;  and  it  is  only  the  germinating  soul  which,  through 
love,  can  avert  the  doom  of  the  primal  law.  Collective 
spirits  like  those  of  the  nations  are  younger  and  more 
primitive  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  than  the 
individual  spirits  of  the  persons  out  of  whom  these  collec- 
tivities are  made  up ;  and  even  though  it  should  become 
possible  to  control  the  murderous  impulses  of  their  will 
to  live,  nevertheless  here  as  throughout  organic  nature  a 
comparatively  peaceful  or  a  forceful  struggle  for  the  essen- 
tial elements  of  life  will  furnish  proof  of  the  will  to  live  and 
the  right  to  live. 

If  we  approve  the  will  to  live  and  its  militant  expression 
in  the  form  of  self-defence,  then  the  secular  modification 
of  national  life,  whose  course  cannot  be  foretold  for  centuries 
in  advance,  compels  us  to  admit  that  the  nations  have  a 
right  to  the  increase  of  power. 

It  now  behoves  us  to  characterise  the  secular  transfor- 
mation of  the  will  to  power.  Its  characterisation  by  the 
two  tendencies  of  nationalism  and  imperialism  may  be 
accepted,  although  these  signify  nothing  more  than  the 
twofold  aspect  of  the  mechanisation  of  political  life. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  millenniary 
movement  came  to  its  term  in  Europe.  I  refer  to  the 
amalgamation  of  the  two  strata  of  which  the  historic  nations 
had  previously  consisted.  Up  to  this  time,  all  history  had 
been  exclusively  the  history  of  the  upper  stratum.  The 
life  of  the  lower  stratum  had  been  as  nnhistorical  as  the 
life  of  the  East.  Consequently  we  know  almost  nothing  of 
the  nature  and  the  origin  of  the  subject  and  the  unfree, 
who  were  perhaps  not  very  numerous  at  the  opening  of 
the  historic  epoch,  but  who  multiplied  more  rapidly  than 
their  masters,  and  whose  ranks  were  further  swelled  by 
all  those  elements  which  dropped  out  of  the  upper  stratum 
into  the  proletariat.  Of  their  life,  their  thoughts,  and  their 
feelings,  we  know  little,  and  for  the  most  part  that  little 
is  negative.  They  had  neither  national  consciousness  nor 
political  will.  Protected  to  a  varying  degree  by  laws  and 
institutions,  they  were  property,  chattels.  It  mattered 
nothing  to  them  whether  their  gracious  lord  was  an 


196    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

Italian,  a  Frenchman,  a  Pole,  or  a  Swede  ;  it  mattered 
nothing  to  them  whether  this  exalted  personage  was  a 
native  or  a  foreigner,  a  lay  baron  or  a  prince  of  the 
church.  When  the  conservative  romanticists  of  our  day 
enthusiastically  compare  these  relationships  to  those  of 
the  patriarchate,  we  must  never  forget  that  in  spite  of 
certain  prescriptions  which  remind  us  of  our  own  laws  for 
the  protection  of  animals,  these  human  beings  were  vendible 
commodities  and  that  their  owners,  without  any  subflavour 
of  illwill,  were  in  the  habit  of  referring  to  them  simply  as 
churls. 

The  body  and  the  strength  of  modern  Europe  are  to  a 
predominant  extent  constituted  by  the  offspring  of  this 
inferior  stratum.  They  consumed  the  crust  of  varnish 
which  the  Teutonic  upper  strata  had  imposed  upon  the 
European  lands  ;  they  deteutonised  the  nations,  and  created 
in  respect  of  appearance,  culture,  and  forms  of  life  the 
characteristics  common  to  the  continental  populations.  It 
was  they  who  brought  to  the  front  the  thought-forms  of 
the  mechanised  epoch,  which  were  alien  to  Teutonism  and 
were  in  conflict  with  Teutonism.  It  was  they  who  originated 
new  languages,  arts,  industries,  and  conceptions  of  life, 
which  drew  their  sap  through  the  roots  of  the  old  subor- 
dinate stratum,  and  were  derived  from  the  sagacity,  the 
disciplined  obedience,  and  the  de-individualised  industry 
of  the  members  of  this  stratum.  A  widespread  popular 
sentiment  has  speciously  but  erroneously  attributed  to  the 
Jews  the  authorship  of  the  spiritual  transformations  of 
recent  centuries,  the  theory  being  based  on  the  recognition 
that  Jewish  thought  is  singularly  harmonious  with  the  thought 
of  the  mechanised  era.  But  we  should  be  promoting  the 
Jews  to  the  intellectual  leadership  of  the  world,  and  should 
be  grossly  underestimating  the  significance  of  the  European 
nations,  were  we  to  assign  to  a  few  hundred  thousand  Jews 
causal  responsibility  for  the  merits  and  defects  of  mechanisa- 
tion— arid  to  do  this  even  for  countries  where  they  did  not 
live,  and  for  periods  in  which  they  had  practically  no  civil 
rights.  Such  a  world-wide  movement  could  only  occur 
because  western  Europe  was  altering  its  whole  aspect. 
The  change  was  inevitable  because  the  rising  tide  of 
humanity  broke  through  the  thinning  aristocratic  crust  of 


THE      WAY      OF       THE       WILL     197 

Teutonism,  and  because  for  the  first  time  since  the  days  of 
the  great  national  migrations  a  new  population  was  spreading 
over  the  west. 

Our  historians,  thanks  to  their  official  position,  for  the 
most  part  contemplated  the  great  French  revolution  from 
the  outlook  of  the  restoration.  They  did  not  consider  it 
to  be  a  basic  phenomenon  in  popular  history,  but  a  suspect 
historical  interlude,  arising  out  of  mismanagement  and 
malformation,  and  brought  about  by  a  metropolitan  mob. 
They  looked  upon  it  as  an  evil,  as  something  which  eventu- 
ated in  a  series  of  amazing  dogmatic  and  rationalistic  experi- 
ments, and  a  thing  which  entailed  terrible  inconvenience  upon 
all  well-disposed  nations.  As  alternative  to  this  outlook, 
which  was  intended  to  serve  as  a  deterrent,  we  have  the 
view  that  the  revolution  was  the  explosive  climax  of  a 
process  of  restratification,  and  that  its  repercussion  in 
neighbouring  lands,  by  a  sort  of  infective  detonation,  led 
to  the  establishment  there  also  of  a  new  balance. 

The  motley  picturesqueness  of  Germany  is  in  part  due 
to  the  fact  that  this  repercussion  was  indirect,  that  in  our 
land  the  revolution  remained  latent,  manifesting  itself  in 
fragmentary  fashion,  working  itself  out  in  riots  and 
congresses,  in  party  struggles  and  civil  wars.  But  for  the 
very  same  reason,  the  Germans  lack  a  proper  sense  of 
political  responsibility  ;  and  herein,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
lies  one  of  the  profounder  causes  of  the  present  war. 
Nevertheless,  restratification  took  place  here  also,  and  upon 
this  process  depends  the  matter  with  which  we  are  now 
concerned,  the  phenomenon  of  nationalism. 

The  predominantly  Teutonic  upper  stratum  of  Europe 
used  to  exhibit  a  kind  of  internationalism  based  more  or 
less  upon  kinship.  This  internationalism  resembled  that  in 
virtue  of  which  the  extant  dynasties  and  supreme  nobility 
constitute  a  cosmopolitan  family  with  interconnections 
that  disregard  frontiers  and  differences  of  creed.  This 
family  alliance  of  the  uppermost  stratum  presented  a  common 
front  against  all  the  inferior  estates.  On  occasions  only, 
when  taking  over  possessions  and  lordship  acquired  by 
inheritance,  marriage,  or  political  eventualities,  did  its 
members  find  it  expedient  to  make  a  parade  of  national 
and  religious  differences.  The  untrammelled  status  of 


198     IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

those  in  the  uppermost  stratum  was  not  hampered  by  any 
national  contrasts.  Wherever  they  might  turn,  they  en- 
countered the  same  supremacy  of  the  church,  the  same 
knightly  customs,  the  same  speech  among  cultured  persons, 
substantially  the  same  culture.  The  idea  of  nationality 
remained  obscure,  nationality  being  conceived  as  marked 
out  by  linguistic  frontiers.  The  beginnings  of  restratification 
created  the  urban  bourgeoisie,  and  so  led  to  national 
cleavages,  which  ultimately  extended  even  into  the  domain 
of  the  creeds. 

By  the  time  when  the  complete  transference  of  popular 
energy  to  the  lower  strata  took  place,  these  cleavages  had 
been  completed,  and  there  now  ensued  a  further  develop- 
ment of  national  sensibility.  The  lowly  born  has  only  one 
home,  one  speech,  one  faith,  one  tradition — that  of  his 
fathers.  He  cannot  understand  the  foreigner ;  he  hates 
the  foreigner ;  he  locks  and  bars  his  own  house  ;  he  regards 
his  neighbour's  dwelling  with  contempt,  a  neighbouring 
tribe  with  suspicion ;  a  neighbouring  nation  speaking  a 
foreign  tongue  is  a  nation  of  enemies.  Hatred  and  love 
alike  form  a  shell.  Only  the  onlooker  can  understand 
contrasts  and  pay  due  regard  to  common  qualities.  A 
national  sentiment  which  embraces  an  entire  country  pre- 
supposes either  great  uniformity  of  physical  and  mental 
qualities,  or  else  that  people  are  beginning  to  raise  their 
eyes.  As  far  as  we  Germans  are  concerned,  a  full  and  pure 
national  sentiment  is  only  now  beginning  to  awaken. 

Political  nationalism  has  not  so  much  need  of  this 
sentiment  as  of  the  real  or  supposed  experience  of  differentia- 
tion from  the  enemy.  This  latter  is  a  feeling  which  in  all 
times  of  political  complication  and  before  every  campaign, 
can  easily  and  simply  be  intensified  to  an  extreme.  We 
find  it  very  difficult  to  realise  that  the  wars  of  long  ago 
rarely  aroused  national  bitterness,  and  frequently  left 
behind  no  memories  of  estrangement,  except  such  as  might 
arise  from  the  memory  of  recent  and  unaccustomed  horrors. 
For  the  most  part  we  hardly  seem  to  remember  that  the 
German  wars  of  the  last  three  centuries  were  civil  wars 
almost  without  exception.  War  was  waged  when  the  ruler 
wished  it  and  when  the  auspices  were  favourable.  Those 
who  took  the  field  were  professional  soldiers.  It  was  a 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     199 

mere  matter  of  chance  whether  the  men  who  trampled  the 
harvests  and  fired  the  roofs  were  friends  and  fellow- 
countrymen  or  foreigners  and  foes. 

The  Napoleonic  wars  formed  the  great  school  of 
nationalism.  The  enemy  was  a  tangible  Frenchman  of 
satanic  mien  ;  his  subjects  were  pitiless  ravagers  ;  his  army 
was  a  national  army,  and  the  mercenary  armies  of  the 
other  European  countries  could  not  withstand  it.  Conse- 
quently the  rulers  were  compelled  to  stoop,  and  to  swear 
a  comradeship-at-arms  with  their  subjects,  well  aware  that 
by  doing  so  they  were  driving  the  thorn  into  their  own 
sides ;  that  they  were  completing  the  restratification  of 
the  continent  ;  that,  as  they  phrased  it,  they  were  helping 
forward  the  revolution.  Yet  in  France  itself,  which  for 
nearly  a  generation  had  had  experience  of  national  enthusi- 
asm, true  nationalism  was  so  little  awakened,  so  undifterenti- 
ated,  that  the  tsar  was  hailed  as  a  liberator,  and  no  trace 
of  hatred  remained  against  the  conqueror  of  Paris. 

If  the  peoples  had  not  yet  become  the  bearers  of  their 
own  destinies,  they  had  at  least  developed  their  own  political 
consciences.  Where  ambition  and  a  determinative  will 
had  been  dominant,  they  demanded  responsibility,  or  at 
least  enfranchisement  from  alien  lordship ;  in  addition, 
they  demanded  unity  .  In  Germany,  the  aspirations  towards 
unity  were  voiced  only  by  a  section  of  the  cultured  classes. 
Consequently,  unity  could  not  be  realised  by  the  people  ; 
it  was  realised  by  a  dictatorial  victor  in  civil  war  and  on  the 
field  of  conquest. 

Thus  the  nineteenth  century  was  the  epoch  of  the 
great  national  segregations  and  aggregations.  To  this 
movement  the  Osmanli  empire  forfeited  its  African  and 
most  of  its  European  dominions.  The  mighty  process  of 
solution  was  the  central  feature  of  western  political  life, 
and  with  the  exception  of  the  Franco-German  settlement 
of  accounts,  all  the  European  crises  of  this  period  were  its 
outcome.  Untouched,  hitherto,  have  been  the  two  composite 
structures  of  Austria  and  Russia,  which  react  on  one  another 
in  a  way  to  favour  mutual  disintegration,  and  at  this 
moment  by  forcible  means. 

The  idea  of  nationality  was  enormously  accentuated 
by  the  economic  consequences  of  restratification. 


200    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

Increase  in  population,  a  general  growth  in  prosperity, 
the  enhanced  demand  for  things  which  are  not  directly 
necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  life,  have  rendered  the 
agricultural  foundation  of  civilised  and  thickly  peopled 
states  altogether  inadequate.  Machine-made  products  were 
needed  ;  and  for  their  production  raw  materials  of  every 
possible  kind,  animal,  vegetable,  and  mineral,  were  requisite. 
No  European  country  is  territorially  and  climatically  com- 
petent to  supply  all  these  requirements  out  of  its  unaided 
resources ;  they  have  to  be  imported  and  paid  for.  The 
payment  is  made  by  each  country  out  of  its  own  surplus 
products  ;  but  in  the  case  of  all  the  continental  countries 
of  Europe,  when  the  native  products  have  done  their  utmost, 
there  still  remains  a  notable  residue  of  imports  to  be  paid 
for.  How  can  this  be  done  ?  There  is  only  one  means, 
that  of  wage  labour.  The  countries  buy  more  raw  materials 
than  they  need  for  their  own  requirements,  and  apply 
labour  to  transform  them  into  finished  products,  which  can 
then  be  sold  abroad  at  a  cost  greatly  above  that  of  the 
imported  raw  materials.  Thus  the  previously  unpaid  portion 
of  imports  for  home  consumption  can  be  balanced.  The 
nations  become  wage  workers  in  the  world's  employ ;  the 
countries  are  workshops  to  which  wages  are  paid.  Since 
each  country  is  in  a  position  to  compete  for  a  share  in  the 
general  offer  of  employment,  all  become  competitors  in 
the  labour  market  of  the  world.  This  competition  takes 
the  form  of  a  struggle  between  the  countries  to  secure 
markets  for  their  respective  exports. 

From  the  economic  outlook,  export  is  something  more 
than  the  mere  expression  of  the  manufacturer's  desire  for 
gain  ;  and  it  is  something  more  than  the  expansive  impulse 
of  vigorous  industries.  It  is  the  sale  of  domestic  labour 
power  for  the  payment  of  the  debts  incurred  for  commodi- 
ties which  every  one  uses.  For  every  one  dresses  'in 
imported  wool  and  cotton ;  every  one  consumes  exotic 
foodstuffs  ;  every  one  uses  machinery  made  of  imported 
metal,  or  uses  the  products  of  such  machinery,  and  products 
manufactured  out  of  imported  raw  material. 

Only  the  Anglo-Saxon  countries  can  dispassionately 
contemplate  this  competition  in  the  world's  wage  market 
or  export  market.  The  Americans  can  do  this  because 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    201 

their  huge  continental  realm  is  the  one  circumscribed  and 
almost  self-sufficient  area  in  the  world.  The  English  can 
be  dispassionate  because  their  ancestors,  with  a  discern- 
ment incredibly  in  advance  of  the  developmental  require- 
ments of  the  day,  acquired  colonial  domains  which  supply 
the  needs  of  the  motherland  and  receive  what  is  offered 
them.  Furthermore,  as  leader  of  European  commerce, 
England  was  able  to  effect  extensive  savings,  and  these, 
invested  abroad,  return  a  yearly  tribute  which  is  supplied 
in  the  form  of  goods  to  the  requisite  amount. 

As  far  as  the  other  states  are  concerned,  they  have  as 
yet  no  more  than  an  unconscious  perception  of  the  nature 
of  their  fierce  competitive  struggle  in  the  labour  market. 
As  usual,  collective  activities  are  the  outcome  of  obscure 
instincts,  which  are  understood  only  in  retrospect.  But 
the  conduct  of  the  nations  has  been  the  logical  consequence 
of  the  new  needs. 

Why  should  another  enrich  himself  by  the  labour  which 
he  takes  from  us  ?  If  he  wants  to  procure  from  us  things 
of  which  he  has  an  urgent  need,  he  must  pay  a  high  price, 
and  we  shall  depreciate  the  currency  in  which  he  pays  us 
by  imposing  difficulties  in  the  process  of  exchange.  This 
was  termed  the  protection  of  national  labour,  for  as  a  matter 
of  actual  fact  a  system  of  protective  tariffs  is  competent 
to  encourage  growing  industries  and  to  raise  the  standard 
of  life  in  the  country  which  adopts  it.  A  transfer  of  national 
sentiment  to  the  sphere  of  economic  interests  was  the  affect 
in  which  the  logic  of  the  struggle  for  a  livelihood  secured 
unconscious  expression. 

But  this  did  not  suffice.  There  still  remained  to  each 
country  its  need  for  foreign  raw  materials,  and  this  need 
again  and  again  compelled  the  harassed  buyers  to  play  the 
suitor  to  their  creditors.  Here,  since  the  American  method 
was  unattainable,  the  English  formula  was  the  only  one 
which  could  avail.  The  requisites  were  :  a  colonial  empire, 
rendering  the  motherland  independent  of  foreign  countries  ; 
a  navy  to  acquire  and  protect  the  colonial  empire  ;  land 
routes,  harbours,  and  coaling  stations,  to  safeguard  the 
whole  structure. 

Two  new  concepts  were  created  when  political  economy 
was  invaded  by  the  mechanistic  forms  of  life  and  thought. 


202    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

The  first  of  these  was  economic  nationalism  as  a  hostile 
method  of  labour  competition  in  the  restricted  market  of 
the  world  ;  the  growth  of  this  idea  being  accompanied  by 
the  transference  of  a  notable  part  of  foreign  policy  to 
economic  aims.  The  second  was  imperialism,  the  insatiable 
need  for  the  extension  of  power  over  every  possible  area, 
since  every  area  could  form  one  stone  in  the  general  struc- 
ture, or  could  at  least  have  an  exchange  value  in  the  process 
of  upbuilding  an  ideal  system  of  self-sufficient  universality. 

The  old  ideal  edifice  of  the  classical  economists  was 
consigned  to  the  housebreakers.  The  theory  had  been 
that  every  one  should  produce  what  he  could  for  the  world 
economy ;  that  he  should  contribute  whatever  he  could 
supply  well  and  cheaply  ;  that  free  exchange  of  commodities, 
a  frictionless  flow,  should  lead  to  the  highest  possible  func- 
tioning with  the  least  expenditure  of  effort.  But  these 
dogmas  no  longer  secured  acceptance.  What  did  it  matter 
that  an  article  should  be  dearer,  so  long  as  it  was  the  product 
of  native  energy  ?  The  country  whose  economic  strength 
was  preponderant  must  prove  victor  in  the  struggle  ;  it 
could  dispose  of  the  world's  raw  materials,  and  could  pay 
for  its  residual  needs  in  any  way  it  pleased.  If  the  seller 
could  not  produce  cheaply  enough  to  sell  at  a  profit,  then, 
under  compulsion,  he  would  have  to  sell  at  a  loss.  So 
much  the  worse  for  him  if  he  became  tributary  to  the 
buyer,  and  so  much  the  better  for  the  autocratic  purchaser. 

Nationalism  and  imperialism  are  ephemeral  tendencies. 
But  as  far  as  our  own  epoch  is  concerned,  they  dominate 
political  thought,  they  dominate  all  the  sensibilities  of  our 
time.  They  were  vital  factors  of  the  present  war ;  they 
kept  the  states  in  a  condition  of  persistent  tension  by  their 
perpetual  demands  for  military  and  naval  preparations ; 
by  their  insistence  upon  competition  they  accentuated  all 
the  conflicts  between  the  powers  of  equal  rank  ;  and  they 
will  not  attain  their  climax  until  after  the  war. 

This  is  a  side  issue.  If  more  space  has  been  given  to 
the  origin  and  nature  of  these  tendencies  than  would  seem 
to  be  warranted  by  the  limits  of  the  present  work,  it  is 
because  a  clear  grasp  of  the  ideas  will  be  requisite  in  the 
sequel.  For  the  moment  let  it  suffice  to  reiterate  that,  as 
long  as  these  principles  remain  dominant  (and  the  end  of 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    203 

their  reign  is  not  yet  in  sight),  as  long  as  we  must  guide 
ourselves  by  a  policy  which  claims  to  be  realist,  so  long 
must  we  give  an  affirmative  answer  to  the  question  whether 
the  state  has  need  of  power. 

The  three  preliminary  questions  have  now  been  con- 
sidered, and  we  can  turn  to  a  brief  and  general  discussion 
of  what  is  to  create  the  political  vesture  for  the  social 
structure  which  has  been  outlined. 

Every  one  of  the  changes  which  we  have  demanded, 
on  moral,  social,  and  economic  grounds,  will  strengthen 
the  powers  and  competences  of  the  state.  The  state  will 
become  the  moving  centre  of  all  economic  life.  Whatever 
society  does,  will  be  done  through  the  state  and  for  the 
sake  of  the  state.  It  will  dispose  of  the  powers  and  the 
means  of  its  members  with  greater  freedom  than  the  old 
territorial  potentates ;  the  greater  part  of  the  economic 
surplus  will  accrue  to  it ;  all  the  wellbeing  of  the  country 
will  be  incorporated  in  the  state.  There  will  be  an  end  of 
economico-social  stratification,  and  consequently  the  state 
will  assume  all  the  powers  now  wielded  by  the  dominant 
classes.  The  spiritual  forces  under  its  control  will  be 
multiplied.  The  existing  follies  of  production  and  the 
existing  irresponsibility  of  consumption  will  come  to  an 
end  ;  much  misdirected  energy  will  be  guided  into  new 
channels,  becoming  available  for  the  sustenance  of  the 
state,  and  in  case  of  need  for  its  defence. 

The  state  in  which  the  popular  will  has  thus  been 
embodied  and  made  manifest,  cannot  be  a  class  state. 
Should  any  class  divisions  persist  within  its  structure,  or 
any  hereditary  powers  maintain  themselves  even  in  greatly 
modified  forms  (the  monarchy  alone  excepted),  the  unfreedom 
from  which  we  suffer  would  have  ripened  to  the  pitch  of 
intolerability,  and  would  be  incompatible  with  the  integrity 
of  our  subjective  and  objective  existence.  We  are  faced 
with  the  demand  for  a  people's  state. 

It  is  a  postulate  of  the  people's  state  that  every  group 
of  its  population  shall  secure  a  due  share  of  influence,  that 
every  legitimate  peculiarity  of  the  people  shall  find  expres- 
sion in  the  state  organisation,  that  every  available  spirit 
shall  secure  an  appropriate  method  of  service.  As  in  a  well- 


204     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

ordered  household,  labour,  authority,  relationships  and 
responsibility,  disposition,  expenditure,  communal  senti- 
ment and  mutual  confidence,  must  cooperate  in  harmonious 
union.  It  must  not  be  as  in  a  factory,  where  members  of 
the  owning  class  receive  the  profits  ;  where  the  stratum 
of  salaried  employees  is  entrusted  with  the  management  ; 
and  where  the  stratum  of  the  manual  workers  serves  for 
weekly  wages.  Nor  must  it  be  as  in  a  crown  colony,  where, 
under  the  protection  of  arms,  a  small  group  of  free  men 
lords  it  over  the  helots. 

In  our  day,  which  is  familiar  with  the  problems  of  organisa- 
tion both  in  great  matters  and  in  small,  it  should  be  needless 
to  point  out  that  the  concept  of  the  people's  state  is  not 
identical  with  that  of  popular  government,  nor  even  with 
the  extremely  theoretical  concept  of  popular  sovereignty. 
In  a  club  or  a  limited  company,  who  would  dream  of  assigning 
to  the  general  assembly  of  the  members  the  conduct  of 
business  or  administrative  concerns  ?  Collective  unities 
are  spiritual  elements  slow  to  move  and  primitive  in  their 
judgments.  Only  after  prolonged  tensions  can  they  arrive 
at  clear  decisions.  Administration  and  the  conduct  of 
business  affairs  involve  the  performance  of  complicated 
tasks,  demanding  profound  insight  and  rapid  resolve.  Such 
duties  must  be  entrusted  to  individuals.  It  is  the  function 
of  the  collective  spirit  to  segregate  and  unite  the  forces 
which  embody  its  highest  thought  and  its  highest  will.  At 
first  this  selection  is  roughly  performed,  but  as  time  passes 
the  method  is  continually  refined.  It  seems  expedient  to 
point  out  that  the  mechanical  act  of  selection  cannot  exclu- 
sively, or  even  to  a  preponderant  degree,  indicate  the  form 
of  the  segregation.  In  complete  contrast  to  the  organic 
process  which  takes  place  in  the  upbuilding  of  every  creature 
endowed  with  sensation,  is  the  action  and  reaction  of  mutually 
estranged  elements,  which,  in  permanent  opposition  of 
function  and  function,  reciprocally  outweary  one  another 
as  they  exercise  a  mutual  friction. 

We  may  ignore  the  foolish  question,  whether  the  idea 
of  the  people's  state  is  realised  elsewhere.  By  the  same 
token,  it  is  needless  to  undertake  a  detailed  examination 
of  the  question,  whether,  considering  all  things,  one  nation 
is  better  or  worse  off  than  another  Each  nation  makes 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     205 

its  own  lot  and  formulates  its  own  ideal ;  for  both  of  these, 
each  nation  is  responsible.  To  stunt  and  to  kill  the  ideal 
of  one  nation  by  imposing  upon  it  limits  derived  from  the 
realities  of  another  nation,  is  the  work  of  the  prentice  hand. 
It  leads  to  the  downfall  of  the  nation  which  measures  its 
claims,  not  in  accordance  with  its  own  ideal  standard,  but 
in  accordance  with  its  superficial  conception  of  an  alien 
nation's  reality. 

The  people's  state  is  not  the  outcome  of  institutions  ; 
it  is  not  engendered  by  written  laws  and  constitutions ;  it 
is  born  of  the  spirit  and  the  will.  When  the  right  frame  of 
mind  has  been  acquired,  institutions,  so  far  as  these  are 
requisite,  follow  in  their  proper  places.  Sometimes  we 
encounter  antiquated  legal  husks  which,  though  dead  in 
point  of  form,  are  none  the  less  full  of  free  life  within  ; 
sometimes  we  encounter  up-to-date  and  elastic  constitutions 
which  of  their  own  free  will  stagnate  in  unfreedom. 

To  destroy  the  dominion  of  feudalism,  capitalism,  and 
bureaucracy,  the  essential  need  is  not  the  change  of  a  written 
word  ;  the  essential  thing  is  the  will,  and  nothing  but  the 
will.  But  it  must  be  a  will  surging  up  from  the  depths  of 
the  folk  soul,  a  will  sustained  by  the  power  of  the  nation 
and  guided  by  a  knowledge  of  the  bonds  to  be  broken  and 
of  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome.  In  the  ensuing  examination 
of  German  conditions,  we  shall  show  why  the  requisite  will 
has  hitherto  been  lacking  to  our  country.  At  this  stage, 
however,  it  will  be  well  to  name  what  it  is  which  restricts 
and  stifles.  Not  men  and  things  not  conscious  will  and 
specific  institutions  ;  but  something  which  is  intermediate 
between  men  and  things,  something  which  seems  to  elude 
our  grasp  and  of  which  we  are  nevertheless  aware  every 
time  we  draw  breath.  This  is  what  we  term  spiritual 
atmosphere 

These  considerations  may  seem  somewhat  nebulous,  and 
nevertheless  we  shall  be  able  to  grasp  the  airy  essence,  to 
condense  and  to  filter  it,  until  it  is  purged  of  its  unwhole- 
some constituents.  Indeed,  we  must  not  be  vexed  if  we 
have  to  come  down  to  the  trite  level  of  everyday  occurrences. 
Enough  for  the  moment  to  say  that  this  atmospheric  element 
signifies  the  aggregate  of  traditions,  practical  usages, 
inherited  outlooks,  self-protection  of  the  classes,  cooptive 


206     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

selection,  submission  to  the  law,  family  relationships,  the 
privileges  of  wealth,  cravings  arrogances  and  obsequious- 
nesses. With  trifling  exceptions,  these  things  have  nothing 
to  do  with  legal  and  constitutional  prescriptions.  They  are 
the  outcome  of  character  and  tradition,  which  remain 
unnoticed  by  most  persons  through  deficient  faculty  for 
comparison  and  differentiation.  Our  atmospherical  simile 
is  justified  because,  like  the  air  we  breathe,  it  is  accepted 
by  us  as  a  habitual  and  uncriticised  element,  until  nose 
and  lungs  are  made  more  sensitive  by  a  sudden  change 
of  air. 

We  are  continually  asking  why  German  emigrants  never 
return  to  the  land  of  their  birth,  although  their  love  of  the 
homeland  is  far  more  ardent  and  lively  than  that  displayed 
by  men  of  other  nations,  and  although  the  thought  of  dying 
in  a  foreign  land  is  peculiarly  painful  to  them.  When  we 
encounter  these  emigrants  we  find  that  they  have  developed 
new  powers  of  comparison,  and  we  are  astonished  to  learn 
that  they  have  more  complaints  to  make  of  their  new  home 
than  in  former  days  of  the  old.  "  But  why  don't  you  come 
back  ?  "  They  shake  their  heads.  "  No.  Never.  We 
could  not  put  up  with  those  conditions."  That  is  all  the 
traveller  can  get  out  of  them.  That  is  all  they  themselves 
know,  for  they  are  incompetent  to  analyse  the  atmosphere 
of  which  they  have  now  become  aware.  Irishmen,  Rus- 
sians, and  Germans  enrich  the  soil  of  the  United  States. 
The  reality  of  what  we  have  termed  spiritual  atmosphere 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  millions  of  our  brethren,  lost  to 
Germany,  comprise  the  best  strength  of  these  alien  states. 

If  we  study  the  laws  of  the  Freemasons  or  the  Jesuits, 
the  written  words  will  teach  us  much  concerning  the  nature 
and  aims  of  the  respective  orders ;  but  he  alone  will  grasp 
their  innermost  being  and  the  ultimate  essence  of  their 
activity,  who  can  discover  the  inherited  and  acquired  living 
spirit  of  the  institutions.  The  articles  of  association  of 
our  economic  undertakings  are  almost  verbally  identical, 
with  the  exception  of  the  bald  statement  of  objects  in  the 
opening  paragraphs ;  yet  how  infinitely  diverse  are  the 
vital  content  and  the  customs,  the  spirit  and  the  will,  of 
the  various  organisations.  '  It  is  a  lamentable  defect  of  our 
political  outlooks  that,  except  as  concerns  the  general 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    207 

characterisation  of  the  various  classes,  we  pay  more  atten- 
tion and  devote  more  criticism  to  institutions  than  to  the 
spirit  which  animates  them.  In  our  characterisation  of 
the  people's  state  it  behoves  us  to  remember  that  it  is  not 
brought  into  being  mainly  by  laws,  but  by  a  free  and  good 
will,  which  must  not  be  restricted  in  its  operations  by  the 
ghostly  vestiges  of  ancient  and  alien  ordinances,  but  which 
must  be  directed  towards  freedom  from  prejudice,  towards 
justice,  objectivity,  and  trust. 

Not  merely  on  account  of  my  dislike  for  electoral  intrigues 
and  place-hunting,  for  the  pushing  arts  of  the  lawyer  and 
the  journalist,  do  I  favour  the  monarchical  ideal.  I  am 
influenced  by  inherited  taste,  and  by  the  conviction  that 
the  supreme  power  of  the  state  must  be  entrusted  to  one 
who  is  profoundly  responsible  ;  to  one  who  stands  far  above 
all  the  desires,  strivings,  and  temptations  of  common  life  ; 
a  consecrated  ruler,  not  a  successful  arrivist.  So  firmly 
do  I  hold  this  conviction,  that  I  feel  entitled  to  point  out 
the  conflicts  that  may  arise  between  monarchy  and  the 
people's  state. 

In  the  bosom  of  the  international  family  which  our 
European  dynasties  comprise,  views  have  always  prevailed 
closely  akin  to  the  feudalist  sentiments  of  many  of  our  great 
landed  proprietors.  The  state  domain,  acquired  by  inherit- 
ance, marriage,  or  in  any  other  way,  is  regarded  as  a  family 
property  ;  the  so-called  subjects  are  looked  upon  as  living 
item  in  a  catalogue  of  possessions  ;  the  ruler  is  inclined, 
over  the  heads  of  these  masses,  to  which  he  may  or  may 
not  be  akin  by  blood,  to  enter  into  ties  of  caste  with  neigh- 
bouring dynasts,  to  compare  with  them  wealth  and  rights 
and  power,  to  consult  with  them  as  to  common  interests 
and  common  dangers.  The  laws  of  tradition  seemed  to 
confirm  this  view  of  a  close  association  between  the  sovereign 
princes,  and  of  an  impassable  chasm  between  the  rulers 
and  the  masses.  Should  there  be  any  mingling  of  the  blood 
royal,  with  commoners'  blood,  even  though  the  commoners 
were  fellow  countrymen,  the  offspring  of  the  tainted  union 
must  for  ever  be  excluded  from  the  succession  ;  on  the 
other  hand,  union  with  aliens  of  royal  blood  provided  these 
belonged  to  the  circle  of  Christian  rulers  was  permissible. 


208     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

Liberal-minded  and  intelligent  dynasts  have  been  able 
to  free  their  minds  from  the  notion  of  an  antagonism  between 
ruler  and  subjects  But  it  has  proved  far  more  difficult 
for  them  to  rid  themselves  of  another  ideal  opposition, 
the  effects  of  which  have  been  overcome  in  the  case  of  a 
few  only  of  the  monarchies. 

In  retrospect,  the  dynast  perceives  that  during  every 
one  of  recent  epochs  limitations  have  been  imposed  upon 
the  power  of  his  house,  and  upon  the  power  of  other  ruling 
houses  besides  his  own  ;  dynasties  have  been  changed  and 
have  been  overthrown  ;  constitutions  have  been  extorted 
or  have  been  secured  by  cajolery ;  here  and  there  republics 
have  come  into  being.  A  century  ago,  the  dynasts  spoke 
of  the  hostile  forces  as  Jacobinism,  revolution,  or  Bonapart- 
ism  ;  to-day  they  term  these  forces  democracy  or  radicalism. 
But  since  by  now  the  people,  or  a  portion  thereof  (and  at 
times  a  highly  developed  portion),  has  become  the  begetter 
and  sustainer  of  these  hostile,  limiting  forces  there  occa- 
sionally results  a  very  vigorous  movement  of  opposition, 
which  may  seriously  curtail  the  privileges  of  dynastic  life. 
In  public  utterances,  the  manifestations  of  this  hostile 
opposition  are  discreetly  ignored,  and  a  naive  parade  is 
made  of  the  position  of  the  sovereign  as  ruler  over  a  harmo- 
nious people.  Even  towards  old  and  trusted  state  servants 
this  pretence  is  kept  up.  But  within  the  ruling  circle, 
within  the  united  family  of  the  dynasts,  the  opposition  to 
monarchy,  is  contemplated  as  a  serious  affair,  and  as  one 
which  concerns  them  all.  The  ebb  and  flow  of  monarchical 
sentiment,  the  possibility  of  coups  d'etat  and  revolutions, 
are  discussed  upon  occasions  and  in  ways  of  which  the 
ordinary  public  knows  nothing.  We  have  learned  from 
Bismarck's  revelations  how  great  an  influence  such  discus- 
SiOns  exercised  upon  the  decisions  even  of  William  I  and 
his  son. 

The  bourgeois  conception  of  the  statesman's  calling  is 
based  upon  the  assumption  that  all  responsibility  is  accepted 
and  discharged  with  self-sacrifice  and  zeal,  so  long  as  the 
acceptance  of  responsibility  is  demanded  ;  but  no  one  is 
supposed  to  grasp  at  any  function  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is 
assumed  that  everyone  shrinks  from  responsibility  in  pro- 
portion as  the  need  for  personal  responsibility  wanes.  But 


THE      WAY      OF       THE      WILL     209 

this  conception  must  not  be  applied  to  dynastic  relation- 
ships. For  the  dominant  system  of  constitutional  law  makes 
of  the  dynast,  not  as  he  is  often  called  the  first  among  the 
servants  of  the  state,  but  a  partner  in  the  nation,  equipped 
with  more  or  less  equal  rights.  Consequently  the  centre 
of  gravity  as  between  ruler  and  nation  cannot  be  regarded 
as  absolutely  fixed.  There  seems  to  be  no  reason  whatever 
why  it  should  not  be  shifted  in  a  way  unfavourable  to  the 
nation. 

As  in  all  complicated  relationships,  so  here,  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  best  solution  of  the  conflict  must  be  based  upon 
the  purely  human  aspect  of  the  question.  If  in  a  household 
the  sons  have  grown  up,  if  to  some  extent  they  have 
founded  households  of  their  own,  that  is  no  reason  why 
paternal  authority  should  diminish.  This  authority  will 
assume  forms  which  no  longer  rest  upon  compulsion,  but 
upon  a  natural  balance  Healthy  nature  and  confidence 
will  lead  the  sons  to  allow  due  weight  to  the  counsel, 
prestige,  and  judgment  of  the  father ;  healthy  nature, 
experience,  and  a  comprehensive  outlook,  will  make  the 
father  the  leader  even  in  the  household  of  adults.  This 
relationship  will  be  all  the  more  firmly  established  in  pro- 
portion as  it  is  unconscious  and  uncoerced.  If  the  relationship 
is  based  upon  a  jealously  watched  contract,  upon  attack 
and  defence,  its  essential  virtue  has  evaporated. 

People  are  fond,  at  any  rate  in  Germany,  of  speaking 
of  a  vigorous  monarchy.  A  monarchy  is  vigorous,  not 
when  the  number  and  extent  of  its  privileges  and  responsi- 
bilities are  exceptionally  large,  but  when  it  is  permanently 
supported  by  the  most  vigorous  portion  of  the  population  ; 
it  is  most  vigorous  when  it  is  sustained  by  a  profound  and 
imperturbable  popular  sentiment.  For,  in  the  last  resort, 
the  essence  of  this  power  is  not  found  in  written  codes  or 
in  rights  which  can  be  enforced,  but  in  human  agreement 
and  human  trust.  An  absolute  monarch  who  in  minor 
details  can  do  anything  he  pleases,  may  be  utterly  incompe- 
tent to  exercise  a  powerful  will  where  important  matters  are 
concerned ;  and  if  he  seems  to  exercise  such  a  will,  he  may 
be  no  more  than  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  another.  A  ruler 
whose  powers  are  apparently  limited  may  none  the  less 
exercise  almost  unrestricted  dominion  if  he  is  determined 

14 


210    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

that  in  all  conflicts  he  will  have  the  nation  on  his  side,  and 
that  he  will  act  exclusively  on  behalf  of  the  community. 

These  imponderable  things  and  delicate  ties,  which  are 
not  always  considered  in  an  objective  and  dispassionate 
spirit,  concern  us  in  their  action  upon  the  views  of  the  dynasts 
and  in  their  reaction  upon  the  atmosphere  of  the  people's 
state.  If  the  monarch  be  more  keenly  conscious  of  the 
conflict  than  of  the  tie  if  his  view  of  the  past  be  troubled 
by  regrets,  his  view  of  the  future  by  fears,  if  he  lay  more 
emphasis  upon  the  defence  of  his  rights  and  upon  the 
stabilisation  of  his  house  than  upon  the  integrity  of  the 
relationship  between  himself  and  the  nation,  his  thoughts 
and  actions  will  be  marked  by  that  duplicity  which  so  often 
lends  enigmatic  and  questionable  lineaments  to  the  dynastic 
character. 

Every  step  is  a  double  step  like  the  knight's  move  on 
the  chessboard  ;  it  is  intended  simultaneously  to  serve  its 
ostensible  objects  and  the  cause  of  the  house.  Every 
relationship  to  men  is  a  duplex  relationship,  for  the  ruler 
asks  himself,  How  does  he  serve  my  avowed  aim,  and  how 
does  he  serve  me  ?  Every  utterance  is  two-faced  ;  it  must 
fulfil  twofold  aims. 

In  our  study  of  the  people's  state,  we  have  to  place  in 
the  foreground  the  relationship  to  men  and  the  environment, 
to  examine  the  essence  and  the  consequences  of  this 
relationship. 

The  dynastic  family,  notwithstanding  its  supranational 
relationships  and  kinships,  is  a  family  belonging  to  the 
country  which  it  rules.  That  family  has  need  of  social 
intercourse,  and  has  the  right  to  choose  its  associates.  An 
element  of  self-protection  enters  into  the  case.  To  the 
members  of  the  ruling  caste,  that  caste  seems  utterly  distinct 
from  all  others  ;  and  in  the  remote  perspectives  which  the 
dynast  contemplates,  differences  of  size  are  hardly  per- 
ceptible. Every  subject  is  looked  upon  as  a  circumscribed 
type  or  a  specialist ;  every  relationship  is  one-sided. 
Nevertheless,  a  certain  gradation  is  effected,  inasmuch  as 
the  great  families  are  in  approximation  with  the  court, 
and  constitute  a  society  whose  members  are  mutually 
acquainted,  who  become  personally  known  to  the  members 
of  the  dynasty  and  acquire  the  confidence  of  these  The 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    211 

persons  comprising  this  circle  have  a  common  outlook, 
and  all  resemble  one  another  in  their  manner  of  life. 

If  it  should  happen  that  the  dynasty,  for  the  reasons 
above  explained,  believes  itself  to  be  in  need  of  special 
protection  against  the  destructive  tendencies  of  the  populace, 
and  if  it  should  renounce  the  decision  to  support  itself  upon 
the  goodwill  of  the  nation  at  large,  the  members  of  the 
ruling  caste  will  naturally  realise  that  the  hereditary  nobility, 
and  more  especially  the  great  landowners  and  the  leading 
members  of  the  military  caste,  constitute  that  portion  of 
the  nation  which  has  the  most  to  fear  from  democratisation, 
the  portion  whose  splendour,  position,  and  calling  are 
closely  dependent  upon  the  crown.  These  persons,  the 
monarch  will  say  to  himself,  occupy  the  chief  posts  in  the 
army  and  the  officialdom,  are  able  in  both  these  spheres 
to  maintain  a  desirable  mood.  Consequently,  there  ensues 
an  exclusive  and  increasingly  intimate  community  of  interests 
between  the  nobility  and  the  dynasty.  Though  conflicts 
may  sometimes  arise  between  the  two,  this  community  of 
interests  is  persistent.  But  its  workings  are  scarcely 
perceptible  to  those  outside  the  charmed  circle,  and  its 
effects  are  all  the  more  enduring  and  universal  because  they 
are  not  restricted  by  any  written  constitution. 

In  other  words,  every  dynasty  which  does  not  deliberately 
aim,  in  a  spirit  of  the  utmost  liberalism,  and  of  the  most 
trusting  self-sacrifice,  at  the  ideal  of  the  people's  state, 
creates  an  aristocracy  of  a  militarist  and  agrarian  com- 
plexion, an  aristocracy  whose  atmosphere  permeates  the 
political  system  and  whose  trends  dominate  the  nation. 
As  far  as  Prussia  is  concerned,  it  will  be  a  matter  for  special 
examination,  whether  and  to  what  extent  elements  of  visible 
and  invisible  feudalism  have  been  preserved.  Here  we 
are  concerned  only  with  general  considerations  applying 
to  this  question  of  the  people's  state. 

To  ensure  the  absolute  dominion  of  the  feudal  stratum, 
it  is  needless  that  the  whole  army  and  the  whole  officialdom 
should  be  permeated  by  members  of  the  feudalist  caste. 
Four  things  only  are  necessary.  First  of  all,  court  society, 
the  leading  society  in  the  country,  must  be  aristocratic, 
must  constitute  the  nursery,  the  school  and  the  testing- 


212     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

place  of  moods  and  customs,  so  as  to  secure  a  suitable 
choice  of  tried  and  representative  personalities,  and  to  set 
an  example.  Secondly,  a  notable  proportion  of  the  general 
staff  and  of  the  officers  of  the  crack  regiments  must  be 
drawn  from  the  same  circle.  This  proportion  must  be 
sufficiently  large  and  sufficiently  well  integrated,  and  the 
special  privileges  of  these  crack  regiments  must  be  sufficiently 
marked,  to  arouse  emulation  and  imitation  throughout  the 
country.  For  the  same  reason,  the  picked  troops  must  not 
be  concentrated  in  any  one  place.  Thirdly,  the  adminis- 
tration must  if  possible  be  provided  throughout  with  aris- 
tocratic leaders,  or  at  least  such  leaders  must  occupy  all 
the  important  posts.  Finally,  the  purely  political  central 
authorities  for  home  affairs  and  foreign  affairs  must  be  in 
the  hands  of  men  of  aristocratic  origin,  who  must  hold  all 
the  most  conspicuous  and  influential  positions. 

It  is  needless  to  follow  up  the  matter  in  further  detail. 
A  self-evident  point  is  that  in  mere  administrative  positions, 
in  provincial  officers'  corps,  in  educational  establishments, 
and  in  local  governmental  corporations,  the  dominant 
caste  should  occupy  leading  positions  ;  but  this  has  very 
little  bearing  upon  the  main  question. 

For  since  the  feudal  trend  is  anchored  to  the  dynastic 
system,  so  that  there  is  neither  danger  nor  hope  that  it  can 
grow  entirely  out  of  date  ;  since  at  all  decisive  points  controls 
have  been  established,  and  these  prevent  the  passage  of 
hostile  elements  ;  since  influential  prototypes  exist  through- 
out the  country  in  sufficient  numbers,  so  that  everyone 
can  readily  guide  himself  by  these  examples  ;  since,  finally 
and  above  all,  a  caste  consolidated  by  social  bonds  and  ties 
of  kinship  exercises  in  its  totality  such  enormous  personal 
influence  that  it  can  sweep  away  all  opposition  and  can 
occupy  every  threatened  outpost  with  its  own  trusted 
nominees — a  completely  new  manifestation  results,  namely 
adaptation  to  feudalism  and  imitation  of  feudalism.  This 
phenomenon  is  plain  for  all  men  to  see,  and  yet  it  is  but 
little  appreciated  by  onlookers,  for  even  those  who  are 
directly  involved  are  not  fully  conscious  of  what  is  in 
progress. 

Persons  who  as  regards  origin,  gifts,  outlook,  and  interests, 
are  remote  from  aristocratic  thought  and  feeling,  become 


THE      WAY      OF       THE      WILL     213 

involved  in  the  political  and  militarist  machinery.  They 
are  young  and  plastic,  and  in  the  course  of  a  prolonged 
training  in  official  life,  they  are  stamped  with  dominant 
views  and  customs,  and  are  inspired  with  profound  respect 
for  feudalist  institutions  and  positions.  Those  who  are 
quite  unconvertible  quit  the  service,  sacrificing  the  finest 
prospects  our  country  offers  to  its  sons.  Others  grow 
indifferent.  Many,  though  distressfully  aware  that  they 
are  suspect  to  themselves  and  to  others,  incline  towards  an 
exaggerated  display  of  the  requisite  modes  of  thought  and 
types  of  action  ;  these  constitute  a  broad  stratum  of  aristo- 
crats by  training ;  when  we  compare  them  with  the 
aristocrats  by  birth,  we  see  that  they  exhibit  less  freedom 
of  movement  and  that  they  are  far  from  manifesting  the 
excellencies  of  the  two  hereditarily  feudal  strata.  In  most 
cases,  under  the  pressure  of  inward  and  outward  super- 
vision, they  succumb  to  an  increasing  inertia.  Sometimes, 
however,  when  they  are  well  on  in  their  career,  their  repressed 
instincts  of  independence  awaken.  In  such  cases  they 
may  either  carry  on  a  hopeless  fight,  or  may  wearily  resign 
themselves  to  the  inevitable. 

Since  man  is  seldom  aware  of  his  inborn  character  and 
is  never  aware  of  his  acquired  character,  these  products 
of  the  educational  and  formative  influences  of  a  coercive 
atmosphere  regard  themselves  as  perfectly  free  agents,  and 
indignantly  reject  the  imputation  that  their  mentality  is 
imposed  upon  them  by  extraneous  influences.  If  some 
independent  observer  should  declare  that  our  political 
system,  steeped  in  feudalism,  is  dominated  by  aristocratic 
ideas,  it  is  easy  for  objectors  to  prove  that  persons  of 
bourgeois  origin  preponderate  in  official  positions.  Inasmuch 
as  the  theory  here  adduced,  namely  that  the  spirit  dominates 
and  the  atmosphere  proves  decisive,  is  not  generally 
current,  the  critic,  more  or  less  convinced,  will  admit  the 
force  of  the  rejoinder.  When  criticism  of  our  institutions 
conies  from  foreign  sources,  it  is  usually  expressed  in  so 
offensive  a  form,  that  we  are  disinclined  to  pay  any  atten- 
tion to  it.  Moreover,  foreign  critics  are  not  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  facts ;  they  describe  things  by  the 
wrong  names  ;  and  in  the  end  their  onslaught  serves  only 
to  strengthen  the  existing  system. 


214     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

This  system,  in  contrast  with  other  invisible  powers 
like  Freemasonry  and  Jesuitism  (whose  effects  are  well 
known  and  often  over-estimated),  remains  securely  hid. 
Sometimes  a  fallen  minister  of  state  will  moot  the  question 
whence  a  private  individual  of  exalted  rank  derived  the 
power  which  drove  him  from  his  place.  Occasionally  such 
a  man  will  transiently  and  to  a  certain  extent  realise  the 
true  condition  of  affairs.  A  more  frequent  incident  is  for 
periodicals  of  the  extreme  left  to  contrast  the  class  state 
with  the  constitutional  state,  and  to  fail  hopelessly  when 
asked  to  prove  their  case. 

A  constitutional  state  can  exist  under  the  pressure  of 
a  feudal  atmosphere.  A  people's  state  cannot  so  exist. 
For  in  the  constitutional  state  it  will  again  and  again  happen 
that  part  of  the  people  becomes  hereditary  master  of  the 
other  part.  Thus  two  distinct  peoples  are  created,  and 
the  more  numerous  of  the  two  will  be  permanently  inspired 
with  an  insurrectionary  mood.  The  circle  is  closed,  inas- 
much as  the  dynasty  secures  fresh  confirmation  of  the  view 
that  it  must  be  supported  by  a  caste  since  it  can  never  be 
supported  by  the  entire  people.  This  circle  can  only  be 
broken  when  the  dynasty  displays  absolute  trust  in  the 
people,  and  such  is  the  course  which  must  be  adopted  by 
the  dynasty  which  would  establish  a  people's  state. 

No  less  a  thing  is  demanded  from  the  people  itself. 
The  people  must  not  look  upon  the  state  as  a  mere  means 
to  an  end,  as  an  armed  association  for  production  and  trade  ; 
the  people  must  not  regard  its  appurtenancy  to  the  state 
as  tantamount  to  the  burdensome  and  costly  membership 
of  a  club  which  grants  valueless  privileges  and  from  which 
resignation  is  forbidden.  Still  less  must  the  people  look 
upon  the  state  as  a  mere  expansion  of  the  police  power, 
intervening  uninvited  in  all  human  affairs,  using  instruments 
which  reveal  themselves  as  petty  tyrants — who  therefore 
stand  outside  the  circle  of  civic  amenities  and  whose 
orders  it  is  quite  right  to  evade  if  they  cannot  be  defied. 
Least  of  all  must  the  state  become  what  it  is  in  the  degener- 
ate lands  of  Latin  civilisation,  namely,  the  butt  of  all 
possible  frauds  and  unhallowed  aspirations,  a  nursery  for 
venal  groups,  a  treasury  where  the  cunning  can  enrich 
themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  stupid. 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    215 

The  state  should  be  the  second  and  expanded  ego  for 
every  individual  member ;  it  should  be  an  ego  which  gives 
to  each  a  share  of  immortality  on  earth  ;  it  should  be  the 
embodiment  of  the  moral  and  effective  communal  will.  A 
profound  sense  of  responsibility  must  be  felt  by  individual 
citizens  for  all  the  activities  of  their  state  ;  and  a  like 
sense  of  responsibility  must  make  each  citizen  aware  that 
everything  he  does  concerns  the  state  to  which  he  belongs. 
Just  as  from  the  outlook  of  the  transcendental  powers  no 
thought  and  no  action  can  be  trifling  or  indifferent,  so 
within  the  state  there  can  be  no  irresponsible  domain.  A 
threefold  responsibility,  towards  the  divine  power,  the 
inner  power,  and  the  power  of  the  state,  engenders  that 
marvellous  balance  of  freedom  which  is  allotted  to  man 
alone,  and  through  which  he  is  privileged  to  enter  the 
frontier  land  of  the  planetary  realm.  In  so  far  as  the 
consciousness  comes  to  be  so  firmly  directed  towards 
the  state  that  the  trend  ceases  to  be  conscious  and  grows 
instinctive,  we  shall  have  created  a  sense  of  the  state  which 
will  be  competent  to  make  of  the  nation  a  genuinely  supra- 
individual  unity,  and  to  render  it  immortal. 

Such  an  occurrence  is  moreover  only  possible  within 
the  people's  state,  and  this  is  why  that  state  must  be 
brought  into  being  before  the  last  claim  on  the  nation  is 
put  forward.  Within  the  sphere  of  influence  of  the  feudalist 
state,  the  class  state,  and  the  caste  state,  to  believe  that 
a  pure  sense  of  the  state  can  be  created  by  requests  and 
adjurations,  by  threats  and  promises,  is  simply  to  delude 
oneself  and  others.  Since  the  authoritative  state  has  power, 
let  it  use  that  power  to  coerce  its  subjects  while  it  may  ; 
but  let  it  be  frank  enough  to  refrain  from  expecting  grati- 
tude and  self-sacrifice  from  those  who  feel  the  weight  of 
its  hand. 

From  this  general  exposition  of  political  ideals,  which 
has  a  bearing  upon  all  nations  though  it  concerns  no 
nation  in  particular,  let  us  now  turn  to  the  affairs  of  the 
homeland,  seeing  that  to  these  we  must  apply  the  severest 
examination  within  the  narrowest  limits  of  time  and  space. 
As  we  advance  along  this  path,  our  task  grows  increasingly 
difficult,  partly  because  we  have  to  avoid  being  overburdened 


216    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

with  a  mass  of  detail  and  because  we  are  in  search  of  a 
balance  between  the  demands  of  the  day  and  absolute  ends  ; 
partly,  and  more  especially,  because  in  this  distressing 
but  tremendous  epoch  of  the  war  we  cannot  escape  a 
conflict  in  our  emotional  life. 

Though  there  may  have  been  times  when  we  were  inclined 
towards  criticism  by  something  more  urgent  than  a  com- 
parison with  absolute  standards,  namely,  by  concern  for 
a  coming  and  inevitable  consummation  which,  as  far  as 
we  ourselves  were  interested,  threatened  to  end  us  and 
our  constructive  activities,  and  held  promise  of  new  begin- 
nings only  for  those  of  a  later  day — though  in  those  times, 
a  harsh  and  even  an  angry  word  might  readily  escape  us 
— it  is  but  human  that  the  splendid  doings,  the  salutary 
sufferings  of  our  nation  to-day,  should  make  us  blind  with 
love,  so  that  nothing  is  left  of  our  vision  beyond  the  percep- 
tion of  light,  without  power  to  distinguish  form.  Yet  now 
more  than  ever,  since  we  wish  to  build,  do  we  need  perception 
of  form,  measure,  and  outline.  Ideal  edifices,  constructed 
without  regard  to  counterforces  and  limitations,  are  but 
castles  in  the  air.  It  is  natural  to  the  human  disposition 
that  we  should  wish  to  estimate  the  happiest  possibilities 
the  future  holds  for  us.  We  need  not  be  ashamed  of  this 
desire,  for  not  merely  is  it  natural  and  universal,  but  further 
it  is  inculcated  by  experience.  The  ground  plan  of  this 
hypothetical  future,  as  far  as  it  can  be  roughly  committed 
to  paper,  can  be  nothing  more  than  a  network  of  hazy 
outlines  ;  but  to  the  inner  vision  the  tinted  and  well-defined 
picture  is  revealed. 

Germany,  and  in  especial  the  most  significant  parts  of 
Germany,  the  Germany  of  the  north  and  the  centre,  with 
which  we  are  mainly  concerned,  is,  as  has  been  repeatedly 
explained,  the  outcome  of  a  mingling  of  strata.  When  we 
speak  of  the  past,  we  refer  to  the  earlier  Teutonic  upper 
stratum  which  was  simultaneously  the  dominant  stratum 
in  other  western  lands.  We  know  its  history,  its  names 
and  stocks,  its  ancient  tongue,  its  medieval  religion,  and 
its  medieval  art.  We  know  the  transformations  which  this 
circumscribed  world  underwent  when  the  mingling  began  ; 
when,  during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  elements 
drawn  from  the  peasantry,  from  the  urban  populations, 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    217 

and  from  the  patrician  families,  were  fashioning  the  German 
civilisation  of  the  modern  age.  This  epoch  endured  on  into 
the  days  of  the  romanticist  movement.  During  our  classical 
age,  creative  work  was  almost  exclusively  performed  by 
the  noble  and  patrician  section  of  our  people.  Very  rarely 
did  one  out  of  the  nameless  folk  surge  upwards,  to  say  and 
to  do  strange  and  untimely  things.  Nevertheless,  by  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  upper  stratum  had 
been  stretched  to  the  breaking-point.  The  heirs  of  names, 
culture,  and  property  were  numbered  in  thousands  ;  but  the 
nameless  many  were  numbered  in  millions. 

With  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  people 
of  the  lower  stratum  entered  upon  the  stage  of  history. 
There  now  began  in  Germany  the  last  transformation  in 
life  and  thought,  in  speech  and  action.  Every  student  of 
the  past  knows  that  there  is  a  deep  chasm  between  the  old 
and  the  new ;  and  yet  we  find  it  difficult  to  realise  that  we 
have  become  a  new  people.  Many  would  rather  belong  to 
the  world  of  Goethe,  Kant,  and  Beethoven,  a  world  which 
we  are  only  now  beginning  to  understand,  than  to  the 
world  of  masses  and  realities  in  which  our  lot  is  cast ;  they 
would  rather  be  offspring  and  inheritors  than  progenitors 
and  precursors.  Many  a  thinker  would  fain  account  for 
mechanisation,  the  basic  phenomenon  of  our  day,  by 
ascribing  it  to  foreign  influences  and  to  infection  from  without. 
But  the  men  who  determine  and  fulfil  our  epoch  and  our 
life  are  not  the  sons  of  the  men  of  that  earlier  age.  Our 
millions  did  not  spring  from  those  thousands.  If  proof  be 
asked,  glance  at  the  figures  and  the  names,  and  compare 
the  prominent  men  of  our  day  with  the  offspring  of  the  old 
dominant  class  in  some  little  area  where  no  mingling  has 
taken  place.  These  millions,  closer  akin,  outwardly  and 
inwardly  more  similar,  to  the  millions  of  other  nations, 
than  they  realise — are  a  new  nation.  Let  them  recognise 
the  fact  with  joy  and  pride,  for  a  beginning  is  more  difficult 
and  more  responsible  than  an  end. 

Indeed,  our  beginning  was  worse  than  difficult,  for  in 
many  respects  it  was  gloomy  and  sinister.  Those  who 
brought  mechanisation  into  being,  stamped  upon  the  epoch 
their  imprint  of  ancient  servitude.  Strain  and  greed, 
impatience  and  misdirected  energy,  filled  the  abstract, 


218    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

mechanical,  titanic  forms  of  creation  with  their  earthbound 
spirit.  The  new  nation  was  a  nation  of  primitive  men  with 
a  veneer  of  civilisation  and  in  a  condition  of  extreme 
intellectual  tension. 

Had  the  uprising  of  the  lower  stratum  in  Germany 
taken  place  with  volcanic  energy,  had  it  been  revolutionary 
as  it  was  in  other  lands,  the  responsibilities  of  power  would 
at  once  have  accrued.  But  the  upward  movement  was  a 
sluggish  flow,  it  was  barely  conscious,  so  that  the  people 
from  the  lower  stratum,  on  reaching  the  surface,  acquired 
the  rights  of  lordship  without  the  corresponding  duties. 

The  old  ruling  caste,  in  large  part  absorbed,  and  over- 
whelmed by  numbers,  still  continued  in  existence  in  the 
form  of  small  but  powerful  vestiges.  Especially  was  this 
the  case  in  Prussia.  The  aristocrats  had  to  share  economic 
dominion  with  the  new  plebeian  plutocracy ;  adminis- 
trative power  was  in  part  ceded  to  an  official  caste  assimi- 
lated to  the  aristocracy ;  territorial  dominion  remained  in 
the  old  hands  ;  political  and  military  control  were  preserved 
for  the  aristocrats  by  their  association  with  the  dynasty. 
Above  all  as  regards  admixture  of  blood;  although  the 
remnants  of  the  upper  stratum  did  not  remain  absolutely 
intact,  nevertheless  they  continued  physically  speaking  to 
exhibit  the  aspect  of  thoroughbreds,  with  the  result  that 
the  contrast  between  the  nobility  and  the  populace  is  more 
conspicuous  here  at  the  first  glance  than  in  any  other 
country  in  the  world. 

This  contrast  becomes  exceptionally  conspicuous  when 
we  contemplate  a  crack  regiment  as  it  passes.  The  officers 
are  distinguished  by  more  resplendent  gold  lace,  the  finer 
cut  and  material  of  their  uniforms,  the  better  finish  of 
their  weapons,  and  by  neater  stripes.  They  ride  thorough- 
breds, and  the  horses  have  silver-mounted  bridles,  and  elegant 
saddles.  But  even  more  marked  than  the  differences  in 
equipment  as  between  officers  and  men  are  the  differences 
in  physique.  The  officer's  head  is  narrow ;  his  profile  is 
sharply  cut ;  he  has  soft,  fair  hair.  The  common  soldier 
has  a  short,  thick  neck  ;  but  the  officer's  neck  is  slender 
and  mobile,  his  back  is  long  and  narrow,  his  figure  is  willowy. 
The  hands  are  white  and  shapely,  the  lower  limbs  and  feet 
are  slender  and  well  formed.  In  comparison  with  these 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    219 

men  of  truly  aristocratic  mien,  the  common  soldiers,  with 
the  exception  of  an  occasional  Holsteiner  or  Frisian,  seem 
squat  and  clumsy. 

The   men   are    profoundly   aware    of    this    relationship, 
wherein  bodily  expression  is  given  to  the  contrast  between 
lordship  and  service.     The  common  soldier  reverences  the 
white  hand  of  the  officer ;    he  willingly  allows  himself  to 
be  ordered  about ;    addressed  with  a  friendly  "  thou,"  he 
answers  respectfully  with  a  "  you  "  ;    with  eager  goodwill 
he   throws   his   whole   body   into   the   salute.     Towards   a 
cultured  superior  of  his  own  stock  he  will  display  this  half- 
unconscious  idolisation  only  when  the  object  of  his  regard 
has  earned  the  highest  personal  respect,  whereas  he  rever- 
ences the  high-bred  superior  by  natural  instinct.     Thus  in 
like  manner  did  his  father  honour  the  nobleman's  father ; 
thus  did  the  old  man,  ever  ready  to  chastise  his  own  children, 
look  reverently  up  towards  the  youthful  son  of  his  lord. 
A  seven  year  old  count,  with  five  centuries  of  experience 
to  back  him,  felt  himself  to  be  a  kindly  patron,  to  whom 
his  people  were  proteges  ;    who  knew  what  was  good  for 
them  and  what  was  bad,  what  would  make  them  ill  and  what 
would   make   them   presumptuous ;     who   gave   what    was 
due  to  others  and  exacted  what  was  due  to  himself,  insisting 
upon  respect  in  return  for  trust,  upon  obedience  in  return 
for  consideration.     The  lord  need  never  be  ashamed  before 
his  people  ;    he  had  no  need  to  exercise  self-restraint,  for 
his  peccadilloes  and  weaknesses  were  regarded  as  appropriate 
to  his  station.     A  member  of  the  ruling  caste  who  was  free 
from  these  blemishes  was  suspect ;    one  who  in  place  of 
them  showed  the  bourgeois  qualities  of  scholarship,  zeal, 
and  diligence,  did  not  ring  true.     For  centuries,  as  between 
the  two  castes,  there  has  been  a  conventional  differentiation 
in  respect  of  language,  behaviour,  appearance,  the  topics 
of  conversation  ;    haughtiness  on  the  one  side  and  subser- 
vience on  the  other.     All  possible  types  and  varieties  of 
character   are   provided   for   in   this   mutual   relationship ; 
every  endurable  action  and  reaction  is  foreseen.     Intolerable 
manifestations    are :     from    above    spitefulness,    spiritual 
arrogance,   contempt,  and  sarcasm ;    from  beneath,   fault- 
finding, refractoriness,  grumbling,  and  insubordination. 

Millions  of  persons  in  Prussia  are  animated  by  this  self- 


220     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

sacrificing  and  servile  spirit  characteristic  of  the  lower 
strata.  Such  sentiments  spread  upward  even  into  the 
ranks  of  the  professional  classes,  to  assume  forms  which 
are  corrupt  and  morally  perilous.  In  its  simpler  types, 
this  outlook  has  a  certain  childlike  beauty,  being  assimilated 
to  the  patriarchal  relationship  which  charms  us  in  the 
early  history  of  every  nation.  As  far  as  popular  psychology 
is  concerned,  these  traits  are  of  great  value.  They  fashion 
the  most  disciplined  and  organisable  mass  that  we  know. 
They  produce  a  mass  body  which,  independently  of  moods 
and  opinions,  will  perform  any  task  imposed  upon  it  to 
the  utmost  limit  of  its  powers  ;  and  they  produce  a  mass 
spirit  which  with  imperturbable  confidence  follows  every 
authorised  leader  who  acts  and  speaks  in  a  way  that  can 
be  understanded  of  the  people.  Enthusiasm  is  not  essential ; 
explanations  are  not  asked ;  criticisms  are  not  uttered. 
This  relationship  is  not  characterised  by  a  sense  of  duty, 
for  there  is  no  conflict  here  between  duty  and  desire  ;  still 
less  is  it  blind  obedience,  since  the  actions  are  the  outcome 
of  free  inclination.  The  most  kindred  thing  to  such  a 
spirit  is  the  docility  of  the  child. 

Two  great  Prussian  organisations  are  the  product  of 
the  plasticity  of  the  masses ;  the  army,  which  is  rural  and 
primary,  and  the  social  democracy,  which  is  urban  and 
mechanistic  in  its  origin. 

The  group  of  qualities  we  have  been  considering  is  not 
Teutonic.  These  qualities  conflict  with  all  the  older  descrip- 
tions of  the  sturdy,  independent,  and  individualistic  nature, 
of  the  anarchistic  and  unorganisable  mentality,  of  the 
Teutonic  stocks  ;  it  conflicts  with  our  historical  knowledge 
of  their  doings  ;  above  all  it  conflicts  with  the  character- 
istics of  the  surviving  Teutonic  vestiges  in  southern  Sweden, 
Frisia,  Westphalia,  Franconia,  and  Swabia,  and  even  with 
those  of  the  pure-blooded  patrician  and  noble  stratum. 
It  is  a  Slavic  characteristic  with  a  slight  Teutonic  admixture, 
this  latter  having  transformed  the  feminine  softness  and 
melancholy  of  the  semi-orientals  into  a  childlike  cheerfulness, 
which  has  fortified  their  passive  obedience  to  become  an 
active  obedience  through  instilling  memories  of  the  self- 
determined  allegiance  of  earlier  days. 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    221 

It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  to  what  extent  the  soul  of 
the  masses  has  been  permeated  by  the  leading  character- 
istics of  the  upper  stratum  of  Old  Germany,  by  its  creative 
yearning,  its  mystical  passion,  its  profundity,  and  its  trans- 
cendentalism. Hitherto  the  masses  have  contributed  but 
little  to  the  highest  spiritual  life  ;  folk-song  is  impoverished, 
folk-art  has  not  developed,  pleasure  has  replaced  joy.  The 
war  was  not  needed  to  confirm  the  belief  that  powerful 
forces  of  love,  sacrifice,  and  courage  are  alive  in  Germany 
to-day,  forces  unexampled  in  any  other  nation  on  earth. 
Prudence,  patience,  and  industry  were  the  creators  of 
mechanisation.  Again  and  again  the  writer  has  expressed 
his  moral  estimate  of  these  qualities  ;  here  we  have  to 
interpret  their  political  significance  with  exclusive  reference 
to  the  national  future. 

Whilst  plasticity  and  pliability,  respect  for  authority 
and  a  sense  of  subordination,  promote  the  most  convenient 
groupings  of  subordinates,  the  subordinate  person  is  not 
the  ultimate  aim  of  the  state.  As  in  an  architectural  master- 
piece, all  parts  of  the  edifice  must  simultaneously  support 
and  be  supported.  If  our  western  neighbour  exhibits  the 
unstable  organism  of  a  nation  where  everyone  wishes  to 
rule  and  no  one  wishes  to  serve  (unless  he  be  duped,  or 
fired  with  temporary  enthusiasm),  when  we  turn  our  eyes 
eastward  we  see  an  alarming  spectacle,  the  deadly  apathy 
of  the  masses  who,  crushed  by  their  burdens,  decay,  or 
rise  up  in  furious  revolt.  Our  danger  is  lack  of  independence, 
lack  of  self-consciousness  and  desire  for  responsibility, 
deficiency  of  critical  faculty. 

If  a  childlike  disposition  and  inaptitude  for  independence 
are  the  political  raw  material  which  our  unsophisticated 
masses  contribute  to  the  structure  of  the  state,  we  find 
that  the  weaknesses  of  the  material  are  accentuated  as 
soon  as  we  come  to  examine  the  masses  that  have  been 
influenced  by  mechanisation,  as  soon  as  we  turn  to  consider 
the  urban  proletariat  and  the  middle  class. 

Here,  too,  we  find  the  inevitable  relationship  of  depend- 
ence. Here,  likewise,  the  state  is  not  everyone's  affair, 
but  is  the  administrative  preserve  of  the  upper  class  ;  here, 
too,  there  is  a  crowd  of  superiors  from  whom  the  lives  of 
the  majority  are  permanently  detached.  But  this  upper 


222    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

class  no  longer  consists  of  nobles,  of  patriarchal  personages  ; 
it  is  comprised  of  anonymous  grades  and  anonymous  official 
castes,  filled  by  commonplace  people.  We  have  capital, 
represented  by  the  manager,  the  civil  engineer,  the  head 
clerk,  the  foreman,  by  customers  and  commission  agents. 
We  have  the  officialdom,  represented  by  the  tax-collectors, 
the  policemen,  the  booking-clerks,  and  so  on.  Furthermore, 
for  the  two  years  of  their  military  service  people  are  under 
the  orders  of  the  feudal  stratum,  represented  by  the  lieutenant 
and  the  non-commissioned  officer.  Obedience  to  these 
powers  is  no  longer  undifferentiated  and  instinctive  ;  nor 
is  it  enforced,  for  our  people  have  no  means  of  comparison 
such  as  present  themselves  to  emigrants.  It  is  accepted  as 
a  disagreeable  necessity,  and  with  the  emotional  tone  of  a 
dutiful  obligation.  Consequently,  even  when  the  obligation 
is  repudiated,  the  revolt  is  not  a  vigorous  assertion  of  right 
but  a  deliberate  act  of  insubordination,  performed  with  an 
uneasy  conscience. 

The  word  subordination  has  a  disagreeable  ring,  suggesting 
the  hopeless  toleration  of  an  anonymous  lordship.  Where 
rebellion  is  organised,  as  in  the  case  of  the  social  democracy, 
the  habit  of  dependence  is  so  ingrained  that  the  form  of 
subordination  is  promptly  resumed.  Failing  this,  the  tone 
of  dissatisfaction  speedily  degenerates  into  the  futile 
grumbling  of  servants,  into  political  faultfinding. 

There  is  no  path  leading  from  the  lower  classes  to  the 
upper.  Wealth  and  culture  surround  their  domains  with 
walls  of  glass,  and  the  deep  chasm  between  the  two  forms 
of  life  is  not  bridged  by  the  imitativeness  and  the  ingratiating 
manners  of  the  south. 

Profundity ;  a  sense  for  the  essential  of  which  things 
are  but  the  reflection  ;  vigorous  individuality  and  syste- 
matic universality,  leading  to  a  recognition  of  and  due 
esteem  for  the  counter-possibility  to  every  possibility — these 
supreme  qualities  have  from  the  first  made  the  German 
an  opponent  of  form.  For  all  form  is  limitation  and  one- 
sidedness ;  it  is  based  upon  self-satisfaction ;  upon  the 
childlike  opinion  that  side  by  side  with  the  good  there  exists 
a  best  which  cannot  be  excelled,  and  that  the  same  considera- 
tion applies  to  the  well-tried.  Doubtless  it  is  based  likewise 
upon  the  human  longing  for  paradise  ;  upon  the  yearning 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    223 

for  pure  agreement  and  perfect  harmony ;  upon  that 
classical  sense  of  balance  which  shrinks  from  abysses,  be 
they  heavenly  or  infernal.  In  the  united  provinces  of 
the  arts  and  sciences,  of  individual,  social,  and  political 
life,  we  can  find  hardly  a  single  fundamental  form  which 
is  of  German  origin.  The  forms  of  architecture,  domestic 
furniture,  painting,  music,  romance  and  the  drama,  military 
life,  religion,  commerce  and  industry,  joint-stock  activities, 
constitutions — all  these  outward  modes  and  structures 
which  continue  to  bear  foreign  names  have  been  derived 
by  the  Germans  from  projectors  of  other  lands.  Neverthe- 
less the  German  spirit  has  seized  upon  one  of  these  vessels 
after  another,  has  completed  its  thought-forms  with  a 
steady  hand  and  a  sympathetic  understanding,  filling  it 
with  a  new  and  fiery  inspiration,  so  that  the  overflowing 
receptacle  needed  new  forms. 

This  spectacle  has  rejoiced  us  and  has  enriched  the 
world.  Nevertheless  we  have  remained  poor  in  forms 
because  we  were  taught  to  despise  them ;  just  as  those 
creators  of  forms  who  mocked  at  us  remained  poor  in  spirit. 

Since,  however,  the  essence  of  political  life  is  not  an 
absolute  thing,  but  is  a  struggle  between  forces  and  counter- 
forces,  we  must  realise  that  we  are  injured  to  some  extent 
by  this  formlessness.  We  have  referred  to  contrasts  in 
modes  of  life,  and  we  must  admit  that  in  our  case  they  are 
exaggerated  to  the  point  where  all  uniformity  is  lost.  Nay, 
since  a  slothful  love  of  ease  and  an  indifference  to  appearances 
are  characteristic  of  the  Germans,  this  is  accentuated  even 
to  the  pitch  of  an  amorphous  nonchalance. 

We  are  losing  the  civilising  force  which  is  derived  from 
the  resolute  maintenance  of  well-tried  forms  of  life.  Nay 
more.  Whereas  the  feeling  of  dependence  which  dominates 
our  life,  that  ignoble  sentiment  which  makes  us  subservient 
towards  superiors  and  haughty  towards  inferiors,  renders 
it  difficult  for  us  to  be  a  free  nation  of  masters.  In  addition, 
our  formlessness  contributes  in  its  inward  working  to  lessen 
the  consciousness  of  lordship,  and  in  its  outward  working  to 
diminish  the  capacity  for  lordship.  If,  alike  within  our  own 
borders  and  in  foreign  lands,  we  display  so  little  colonising 
energy,  if  we  have  proved  unable  to  rivet  to  ourselves  our 
own  kinsmen  and  the  nations  we  have  permeated  with  our 


224    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

blood,  the  fault  does  not  lie  so  much  with  our  institutions 
as  with  our  lack  of  inborn  capacity  for  lordship.  Now  by 
lordship  I  do  not  mean  an  arrogant  deportment,  for  this 
may  well  be  inwardly  associated  with  a  dependent  and 
servile  nature.  I  mean  an  instinctive  harmony,  a  harmony 
which  comes  without  reflection,  a  harmony  of  duties  and 
rights ;  an  inward  realisation  of  the  far  and  the  near  ; 
a  renouncement  of  petty  claims  and  a  firm  grasp  of  essen- 
tials ;  a  sacrifice  of  the  convenient  for  that  which  is  truly 
worth  while.  Above  all  do  I  mean  remorseless  justice — 
free-spirited,  independent  of  prejudice  and  censoriousness. 

If  dependence  be  associated  with  an  unstable  economic 
position,  the  danger  of  pettiness  is  close  at  hand.  Per  se, 
positive  want  need  not  necessarily  involve  the  loss  of 
independence  of  mind  and  of  conscious  freedom.  But  he 
who  is  able  to  accommodate  himself  to  a  position  of  undesired 
dependence,  will  readily  succumb  to  the  temptation  of 
accepting  shadows  for  realities.  Yet  pretentious  display 
and  poverty  are  ill  neighbours.  Such  a  conjuncture  gnaws 
at  the  root  of  domestic  life  ;  it  entails  numerous  cares  upon 
women,  and  trains  up  the  rising  generation  in  the  bonds 
of  unfreedom. 

He  for  whom  unfpe.edom  is  bred  in  the  bone,  who 
unwittingly  recognises  that  he  is  lorded  over  by  a  dominant 
caste  which  he  no  longer  loves  and  which  he  sometimes 
envies,  he  who  has  come  to  regard  his  own  fate  and  that 
of  his  children  as  irrevocable,  finds  his  consolation  in 
contemplating  those  who  share  his  lot  and  who  bend  under 
the  same  burden.  In  the  long  run,  he  will  rather  bear 
enhanced  oppression  from  his  born  superiors  than  see  one 
of  his  fellows  rise  to  higher  levels  and  win  freedom.  Should 
his  companion  come  to  enjoy  prosperity  or  power,  this  does 
not  make  him  proud  and  hopeful,  but  fills  him  with  bitter- 
ness, for  he  knows  that  the  other  will  henceforward  look 
down  on  him  contemptuously  from  Olympian  heights. 
The  naive  delight  of  the  Americans,  who  are  never  weary 
of  adding  up  the  dollars  of  some  self-made  millionaire,  and 
who  love  to  relate  that  this  master  of  millions  began  life 
as  a  newspaper  boy,  is  only  possible  in  a  land  where  every- 
thing remains  open  to  all.  The  ideal  of  our  malcontents 
will  certainly  never  be  the  crude  longing  for  riches 


THE      WAY      OF      THE       WILL     225 

characteristic  of  the  transatlantic  world.  Just  as  little 
will  it  be  the  desire  for  unhindered  spiritual  ascent.  Their 
craving  is  for  the  most  jejune,  unreal,  and  dangerous  of 
materialistic  Utopias,  for  equality,  even  if  it  should  be  an 
equality  which  can  only  be  secured  by  a  general  levelling 
down. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  regard  such  sentiments  as  deserving 
the  despicable  name  of  envy.  But  we  must  never  forget 
that  these  narrow  outlooks  endanger  political  ideals.  For 
inasmuch  as  every  free  and  desirable  condition  must  be 
based,  not  upon  inert  democracy,  but  upon  the  vigorous 
upward  and  downward  play  of  spiritual  forces,  it  follows 
that  feelings  of  illwill  are  pre-eminently  calculated  to  hinder 
ascent,  and  to  maintain  the  power  of  dying  tyrannies  simply 
because  people  are  used  to  them. 

If  we  survey  the  whole  field  of  great  and  fine  qualities 
characteristic  of  our  middle  and  lower  classes :  their  inviolable 
honesty,  common  sense,  and  devotion  to  duty;  their  resolute- 
ness in  work,  danger,  and  suffering;  their  tranquil,  earnest, 
and  devout  attitude  towards  God,  man,  and  nature;  their 
love  of  home  and  their  unselfishness ;  their  aspiration 
towards  knowledge  and  fulfilment — the  shadows  in  the 
picture  may  be  ignored,  and  our  nation  may  deem  itself 
happy  that  these  shadows  are  so  few.  But  when  we  come 
to  consider  political  ideals,  which  are  the  touchstone  of 
our  investigation,  we  cannot  be  so  easily  satisfied.  For 
unfortunately  the  few  defects  among  our  characteristics 
are  precisely  those  which  can  make  a  nation  inapt  for 
political  life,  and  which  have  long  had  that  effect  upon  the 
Germans.  We  lack  independence  of  mind,  a  sense  of  dignity, 
masterfulness,  readiness  to  accept  responsibility,  magnan- 
imity. A  grave  defect  is  that  we  are  not  free  from  the 
spirit  of  servility  towards  superiors  and  haughtiness  towards 
inferiors,  that  we  are  not  free  from  pettiness  and  envy. 
By  this  range  of  sentiments  the  whole  of  German  politics 
is  determined.  The  political  future  of  the  country  is  not 
a  question  of  institutions,  but  of  character.  Every  statesman 
of  the  coming  days,  unless  he  be  merely  one  who  grasps  at 
power  or  desires  to  further  private  interests,  must  realise 
that  the  awakening  of  new  moral  energies  is  the  fundamental 
prerequisite  to  social  reconstruction,  and  that  institutions 

15 


226    IN        DAYS        TO        GOME 

obediently  and  readily  follow  human  development  as  the 
bark  follows  the  growth  of  the  tree  trunk.  A  century  ago 
we  became  a  nation  ;  fifty  years  ago  we  became  a  state  ; 
now,  by  an  inward  rebirth,  we  must  become  a  political 
nation  and  a  people's  state. 

It  is  true  that  only  a  few  decades  ago  one  who  knew 
our  nation  as  few  have  known  it,  left  us  but  little  hope. 
He  extols  the  Germans  when  he  speaks  of  their  loyalty  and 
submissiveness ;  he  grows  bitter  when  he  refers  to  public 
opinion,  political  trends,  and  a  sense  of  responsibility.  He 
considers  that  journalists,  professors,  professional  politicians, 
and  dilettantes  are  responsible  for  the  vulgar  errors  which 
endanger  his  work.  He  considers  that  the  Germans  are 
like  children,  and  he  goes  so  far  as  to  deny  that  they  possess 
a  direct  sense  of  nationality.  Only  indirectly,  he  declares, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  dynastic  sentiment, 
can  an  effective  consciousness  of  nationality  be  roused 
among  our  countrymen. 

During  the  years  before  the  war,  it  seemed  as  if  certain 
forms  of  patriotism  were  such  as  to  confirm  this  harsh 
judgment.  How  rarely  was  there  displayed  any  virile  and 
free-spirited  pride  in  our  country,  our  people,  or  our  commu- 
nity. How  great  was  the  need  of  symbols  of  allegiance  ; 
how  often  did  it  even  seem  requisite  to  stimulate  coarse 
feelings  of  hatred. 

Still  more  distressing  was  it  to  raise  our  ej^es  to  the 
topmost  levels  of  bourgeois  life,  to  consider  the  more 
powerful  members  of  capitalist  society,  those  who  were 
extremely  influential  if  not  the  actual  leaders.  They 
constitute  one  of  the  central  forces  of  political  life,  and 
the  trend  of  their  energies  is  symbolised  by  the  behaviour 
of  their  political  expression,  the  National  Liberal  Party 
in  the  German  Reichstag. 

This  party  can  extort  little,  but  can  block  everything ; 
its  responsibilities  are  greater  than  it  realises.  It  represents 
the  intelligence  of  the  upper  middle  class,  but  it  likewise 
represents  the  interests  of  capitalism  It  preserves  the 
old  liberal  ideals,  blunted  by  compromises  with  extant 
powers.  It  has  an  inclination  towards  free  and  unprejudiced 
judgments,  but  it  needs  the  pecuniary  help  and  the  energies 
of  privileged  protectors.  It  might  exercise  a  decisive  influ- 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     227 

ence.  When  we  study  its  history,  we  see  that  involuntarily 
it  has  served  feudalism,  and  has  earned  no  thanks  for  the 
service. 

If  the  party  thus  lacks  a  definite  trend,  the  same  is  true 
of  the  class  which  it  represents.  Here  interests  take  prece- 
dence of  ideals.  Property  is  threatened  from  beneath,  and 
what  interest  is  higher  than  that  of  property  ?  It  is  bad 
enough  that  by  the  representative  system  the  votes  of  the 
have-nots  should  enable  them  to  dispose  of  the  possessions 
of  the  haves.  The  first  essential,  therefore,  is  that  the 
danger  of  communism  should  be  averted  ;  other  matters 
can  be  left  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Besides,  what  is 
the  use  of  politics  anyhow  ?  Politics  is  only  waste  of  time. 
Home  administration  and  foreign  affairs  are  in  the  hands 
of  experts  ;  and  if  these  do  not  always  perform  their  tasks 
perfectly,  nevertheless  Germany  is  as  well  served  as  other 
lands.  They  can  be  criticised  if  necessary,  and  strings  can 
be  pulled  when  the  experts  show  an  inclination  to  invade 
the  sphere  of  private  interests.  Daily  work  is  far  more 
important  ;  a  successful  business  year,  the  extension  of  the 
enterprises  we  are  interested  in,  dividends,  are  the  matters 
of  chief  concern.  Perhaps  some  one  will  object,  saying 
that  these  things  are  built  up  on  a  foundation  which  is 
never  perfectly  secure,  that  they  repose  upon  the  power 
of  the  state  and  the  welfare  of  the  country.  The  answer 
will  be  ready.  Let  us  first  settle  this  urgent  affair  and 
that ;  then  perhaps  there  will  be  time  to  turn  our  attention 
to  other  than  business  matters.  It  would  perhaps  be 
better  if  ...  Then  comes  sharp  criticism  of  various 
responsible  and  irresponsible  individuals,  for  the  critics 
neither  can  nor  will  understand  that  the  system  is  responsible 
for  all  individuals,  and  that  the  nation  is  responsible  for 
all  the  systems. 

But  this  indifferentism  is  not  the  end  of  the  matter. 
The  higher  we  climb  on  the  bourgeois  ladder,  the  further 
do  we  see  into  the  shadows  of  a  voluntary  dependence  which 
can  hardly  be  described  in  any  gentler  phrase  than  as  a 
sort  of  ideal  venality. 

People  have  to  think  of  positions  and  careers.  They 
cannot  get  on  without  associating  with  highly  placed  digni- 
taries ;  if  they  keep  a  good  house,  they  must  have  distin- 


228    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

guished  guests.  Furthermore,  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to 
gloss  over  little  defects  in  breeding  and  education  ;  nothing 
can  do  this  better  than  a  thick  veneer  of  gentility.  A  son's 
regiment  or  students'  corps,  a  son-in-law's  friends  and 
relatives,  must  receive  due  consideration.  Social  relation- 
ships demand  serious  treatment,  for  there  is  good  chance 
of  a  rise  in  social  rank.  Even  for  the  lesser  satisfactions  of 
bourgeois  ambition,  the  right  way  of  thinking  is  essential 
in  addition  to  material  advantages. 

Doubtless  there  still  exist  persons  who  possess  a  truly 
patrician  consciousness  ;  who  will  never  ask  favours  ;  who, 
standing  firmly  upon  their  own  duties  and  rights,  disdain 
to  be  taken  for  what  they  are  not,  and  to  issue  invitations 
to  those  who,  meeting  one  another  on  the  doorstep,  depre- 
catingly  explain  to  one  another  how  they  became  acquainted 
with  the  host.  Persons  of  this  high  calibre  are  mostly  to 
be  found  among  families  whose  wealth  is  of  old  date.  In 
the  case  of  the  newly  enriched,  who  are  more  numerous  in 
Germany  than  in  any  other  European  land,  it  may  perhaps 
be  accounted  a  virtue  that,  stupefied  by  their  own  ascent, 
they  should  regard  nothing  as  impossible,  and  should  believe 
themselves  to  be  still  climbing  when  they  are  only  intruding. 

The  intriguing  arts  of  Louis  XIV  enabled  him  to  control 
the  French  nobility  by  encouraging  faith  in  a  new  aim, 
the  court.  All  unawares  our  feudal  system  has  dealt  in 
like  manner  with  the  aspiring  bourgeoisie.  The  bourgeois 
can  rise  in  the  social  scale  if  he  has  sound  views.  Imitation 
of  feudalist  sentiment  was  more  successful  in  actual  practice 
than  had  seemed  likely  at  first  sight ;  for  since  it  lacks  the 
slight  corrective  of  scepticism  which  is  characteristic  of 
the  genuine  nobleman,  the  newly  enriched  tend  to  overact 
their  feudalist  parts. 

No  matter  whether  we  take  these  weaknesses  seriously 
or  not.  As  far  as  political  life  is  concerned  they  emasculate 
the  class  which  displays  them,  inasmuch  as  they  make  it 
parasitic  upon  another  class.  In  Prussia,  therefore,  there 
has  been  only  one  real  political  power,  that  of  feudalist 
conservatism.  The  populace  is  guided  by  authority.  At 
first  it  obeyed  that  of  the  feudal  magnates  and  the  clergy; 
later,  when  it  had  been  estranged  from  these,  it  obeyed 
that  of  the  agitators.  Socialism  can  control  masses  and 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     229 

interests,  but  it  has  no  spiritual  philosophy.  Organised 
Catholicism  is  more  concerned  about  religious  than  about 
political  interests.  Feudalism  alone  has  a  historico-religious 
philosophy,  and  this  philosophy  is  most  happily  inter-con- 
nected with  the  political  and  material  interests  of  the  feudal 
caste.  The  feudalist  conservatives  control  the  executive 
and  the  army  ;  they  are  closely  allied  with  the  royal  family  ; 
the  most  powerful  section  of  the  bourgeoisie  follows  in 
their  train 

The  strongest  argument  for  the  extant  is  success.  Were 
the  present  war  to  bring  the  speedy  and  unconditional 
success  of  complete  victory,  the  realisation  of  the  people's 
state  would  not  be  facilitated  for  Germany.  Yet  there  is 
no  German  who  loves  his  nation  and  his  homeland  who 
would  not  a  thousand  times  rather  endure  an  accentuated 
reaction  like  that  of  1815,  than  witness  the  slightest  detrac- 
tion from  the  national  power  and  honour.  Nevertheless, 
however  the  world  struggle  may  end,  that  end  can  only 
be  preparatory,  not  decisive,  as  concerns  the  ultimate  aims 
of  the  nation,  those  we  are  now  discussing.  We  may, 
however,  anticipate  that  there  will  be  three  main  outcomes 
of  the  war.  One  of  these,  the  third,  has  already  been 
carefully  examined. 

To  begin  with  we  have  the  first  truly  communal  experi- 
ence of  the  old  inferior  stratum,  now  ripened  to  become  the 
core  of  the  German  people.  The  armies  of  the  nineteenth 
century  were  small  sections  of  the  population,  drawn  mainly 
from  the  countryfolk,  the  higher  class  of  the  townsmen, 
and  the  nobility.  To-day  for  the  first  time  the  entire  nation 
is  in  arms.  Nor  does  the  army  alone  fight,  work,  and  suffer, 
but  every  living  soul  in  the  country.  It  was  not  the 
August  days  which  fashioned  the  great  amalgamation, 
however  splendid  the  immeasurable  enthusiasm  of  those 
days,  for  they  were  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  term  a  festal 
intoxication.  A  glance  behind  the  veil  of  the  future  would 
have  had  a  sobering  effect,  and  the  few  to  whom  the  seer's 
vision  had  been  granted  were,  though  not  chilled,  grave 
in  mien.  That  which  unites  us  to-day  is  something  less 
joyful,  less  simply  resplendent,  and  yet  it  is  something 
which  no  future  disillusionment  can  darken  ;  it  is  a  sense 


230    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

of  duty  and  a  sense  of  responsibility  proof  against  all  tests. 
To-day  we  are  animated  by  a  twofold  unity,  that  of  common 
cares  and  pains  no  less  than  that  of  common  hope  and  trust. 
To  a  greater  extent  than  ever  before,  this  community  of 
life  and  sorrow  creates  nationality  as  tradition,  speech, 
custom,  and  faith.  What  is  welded  under  such  a  pressure, 
will  remain  united  ;  what  is  separated,  will  remain  for  ever 
apart.  Hitherto  the  lower  stratum  had  been  a  constituent 
of  the  nation,  and  was  the  largest  of  these ;  henceforward 
it  will  be  a  limb,  and  will  be  the  most  powerful  of  all  the 
limbs  in  so  far  as  it  remains  aware  of  its  responsibilities. 
For  it  is  the  sense  of  responsibility  in  the  core  of  the  nation 
which  decides  everything.  If  such  a  sense  can  be  acquired 
and  maintained,  we  are  and  shall  continue  to  be  a  nation 
and  a  people's  state.  If  we  do  not  acquire  it,  we  shall  be 
nothing  but  the  ruled  stratum  of  a  political  alliance.  The 
vestiges  of  dependence,  immaturity,  and  inaptness  for 
political  life  will  be  swept  awav  if  we  learn  and  hold  fast 
to  the  truth  that  state  and  country  are  res  puUica,  the 
cause  of  all,  not  the  cause  of  separate  human  beings,  separate 
estates,  or  separate  classes  ;  if  we  learn  and  hold  fast  to 
the  truth  that  every  individual  is  permanently  responsible 
for  this  cause,  just  as  much  as  he  is  responsible  for  self, 
wife,  and  children,  for  home,  family,  and  name. 

Secondly,  the  decline  in  European  prosperity  which  will 
result  from  the  war,  the  disorganisation*  of  property  and 
the  increase  of  burdens  which  will  result  from  it,  will  every- 
where reduce  the  extent  and  viability  of  the  upper  middle 
class.  Wealth  may  be  burdened  up  to  the  very  limits  of 
what  is  possible  within  the  existing  economic  system,  and 
thereby  its  aggregate  will  be  markedly  diminished.  The 
number  of  individual  owners  of  wealth  will  be  less  conspicu- 
ously reduced,  although  there  may  be  individual  impoverish- 
ment and  changes  in  the  personal  composition  of  the 
wealthier  class.  Despite  transient  difficulties,  the  class  of 
agriculturists  will  enjoy  enhanced  prosperity  in  the  capital- 
istic sense,  and  in  view  of  the  needs  of  the  general  situation, 
it  will  be  spared  an  increase  of  burdens.  The  lower  middle 
class  and  the  working  class  will  maintain  a  successful  fight 
for  wages  that  will  secure  the  accustomed  standard  of 
life.  But  persons  of  independent  means,  the  owners  of 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     231 

house  property,  and  persons  in  the  middle  grade  of  business 
life,  will  find  no  compensation  for  the  increased  burdens. 
This  class  will  be  weakened.  To  some  extent  it  will  be 
prole tarianised,  and  those  who  will  drop  out  of  the  plutocratic 
stratum  will  not  adequately  recruit  its  forces. 

Now  from  this  middle  class  is  derived  an  intelligentsia 
which  must  nowise  be  despised,  an  intelligentsia  of  pro- 
fessors, journalists,  and  bureaucrats.  Of  late  years  the  body 
economic  has  been  supplied  from  this  source  with  its  cultured 
and  commercially  responsible  leaders.  The  decline  of  a 
class  which  is  spiritually  indispensable  will  not  merely  be 
painful  to  the  individual  members  of  that  class,  and  will 
not  merely  leave  serious  gaps  in  the  structure  of  the  social 
organism  Above  all  it  will  become  apparent  that  the 
spiritual  forces  of  the  nation,  no  less  than  its  governmental 
forces,  have  been  established  upon  too  narrow  a  foundation. 

This  reminder  will  draw  attention  to  the  profound 
defects  of  our  social  structure.  On  principle,  we  have 
retained  in  its  archaic  form  the  assignment  of  responsibilities 
to  hereditary  castes,  regardless  of  the  consideration  whether 
these  castes  were  worn  out  quantitatively  and  qualitatively. 
At  lower  levels  there  swarms  the  mass  of  the  people, 
spiritually  inexperienced,  dissipating  its  energies  in  the 
monotony  of  mechanical  toil,  estranged  from  the  conception 
of  national  service.  Under  the  new  conditions  we  shall 
for  the  first  time  be  made  practically  and  irrefutably  aware 
that  a  living  body  can  be  permanently  renovated  and 
recreated  in  no  other  way  than  by  the  organic  circulation, 
the  organic  rise  and  fall,  of  its  energies  and  its  juices,  that 
the  inorganic  principle  of  rigidity  must  yield  before  the 
organic  principle  of  mobility  and  growth. 

Thirdly,  the  war  has  finally  destroyed  the  freedom 
from  ties  characteristic  of  an  individualised  economic  system, 
and  has  paved  the  way  for  the  development  of  new  forms 
of  communalised  economy,  for  it  has  made  everyone  realise 
that  the  economic  affairs  of  a  civilised  state  are  not  the 
concern  of  individuals,  but  the  concern  of  all. 

Hitherto  the  state  has  interfered  little  with  the  conduct 
of  private  industry.  Sanitary  and  social  considerations 
entailed  certain  essential  restrictions  and  burdens.  The 
most  obvious  abuses  and  frauds  were  prevented  by  company 


232     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

legislation  Certain  domains  of  commerce  and  industry 
became  governmental  monopolies  and  were  thus  withdrawn 
from  free  competition.  Foreign  trade  was  regulated  to 
some  extent  by  commercial  treaties.  From  the  outlook  of 
those  whose  one  desideratum  was  a  free  interplay  of  forces, 
these  measures  were  at  times  onerous  and  unwelcome. 
But  from  the  outlook  of  a  rationally  planned  communalised 
economy,  they  were  primitive  and  trivial.  Criticism  of 
our  war  economy  (improvised  for  the  occasion,  and  neverthe- 
less fundamentally  successful)  mainly  takes  the  form  of 
complaints  that  organisation  is  excessive,  and  of  hopes  for 
a  subsequent  release  from  interference.  It  is  doubtless 
true  that  there  has  been  some  excess  of  organisation,  that 
the  whole  structure  displays  certain  pettinesses  and  contra- 
dictions, for  we  are  apt  to  confuse  our  readiness  to  be  organised 
with  capacity  for  organisation,  and  are  over  zealous  in  our 
methods  of  cataloguing  and  arranging.  Strong  organisatory 
forces  are  commonly  present  in  the  individual  German's 
imagination,  for  every  one  of  us  feels  himself  to  be  trained 
n  systematic  and  schematic  thinking.  But  in  real  life 
such  forces  are  rarely  manifested,  for  the  decisive  powers 
of  excluding  the  unessential  and  of  judging  men,  presuppose 
special  talents  and  long  training  in  practical  affairs.  We 
shall,  however,  have  grave  need  of  such  powers.  Even 
though  the  idea  of  relearning  is  misapplied  in  a  thousandfold 
pettifogging  ways,  this  idea  will  make  itself  good  in  one 
respect.  Never  again  will  there  be  a  return  to  the  unregulated 
activities  of  the  old  individualist  economy,  which  to 
posterity  will  seem  to  have  been  as  frankly  selfish  as  to  us 
seem  the  practices  of  the  days  of  Robert  Macaire. 

This  third  effect  of  the  war,  the  modification  of  the 
fundamental  economic  concept  by  the  acceptance  of  the 
principle  that  economic  life  is  every  one's  concern,  constitutes 
a  first  notable  step  towards  the  realm  of  the  future.  We 
must  therefore  undertake  a  detailed  examination  of  its 
causes  and  consequences. 

i.  War  has  been  mechanised,  and  the  issue  is  decided 
by  machines,  by  firearms  and  means  of  transport.  A 
war-making  country  must  devote  all  the  manufacturing 
industry  of  the  country  to  the  work  of  making  munitions 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    233 

of  war.  Equipment  for  war  no  longer  signifies  merely  the 
supplying  of  weapons,  but  the  transformation  of  the  whole 
country  into  an  arsenal  in  which  all  non-combatants  make 
munitions.  Munitions  of  war  are  made  out  of  every 
possible  material,  and  since  the  aim  of  equipment  is  destruc- 
tion and  since  the  equipment  is  itself  destroyed  in  the 
performance  of  its  work,  the  replacement  of  what  is  perpetu- 
ally being  used  up  is,  from  the  technical  outlook,  the 
fundamental  task  of  the  war  period. 

The  problem  of  the  supply  of  munitions  becomes  a 
problem  of  labour  and  material.  The  seriousness  of  this 
problem  waxes  to  become  determinative  of  destiny  when 
the  land  at  war  can  be  encircled  and  blockaded  by  the 
enemy. 

It  is  therefore  of  the  first  importance  to  the  state  to 
keep  careful  watch  upon  all  that  is  produced  in  its  own 
territories,  to  ascertain  what  materials  are  available,  and 
what  are  actually  being  used.  The  state  intrudes  into  the 
innermost  tissue  of  production,  into  the  factories  and  work- 
shops, into  the  estate  offices  of  landed  proprietors,  into 
the  counting-houses  of  merchants.  It  drafts  plans  of 
mobilisation  for  the  economic  campaign  ;  it  supplies  managers 
and  labour  power ;  it  controls  methods  of  work,  since  it 
is  vitally  interested  in  the  question  whether  space,  energy, 
and  tools  are  being  wasted.  It  supervises  the  supply  of 
foreign  raw  materials  and  accessories,  which  must  be  used 
with  the  utmost  frugality,  which  must  if  possible  be  replaced 
when  exhausted,  and  for  which,  failing  this,  substitutes 
must  be  found.  A  new  concept,  that  of  the  safeguarding 
of  raw  materials,  is  formulated,  and  this  is  quite  distinct 
from  the  familiar  protection  of  industry.  Raw  materials 
of  domestic  origin  must  be  preferentially  utilised,  quite 
regardless  of  purely  financial  considerations,  of  the  fact 
that  they  may  be  far  more  costly  than  foreign  raw  materials. 
Accounts  must  be  squared  by  savings  in  other  directions, 
and  by  subsidies.  The  elasticity  of  industry,  its  capacity 
for  extension  and  modification,  must  be  proved  to  the 
uttermost.  When  compliance  with  the  demands  of  the 
state  would  entail  undue  sacrifices  upon  individuals,  sub- 
ventions must  be  paid,  and  in  the  last  resort  the  branch  of 
industry  must  be  completely  taken  over  by  the  state. 


234     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

Thereby  is  abrogated  the  principle  of  the  freedom  of 
economic  life,  the  principle  that  it  is  open  to  every  one  to 
procure  money  or  credit,  to  start  any  enterprise  he  pleases, 
and  to  divert  to  his  own  ends,  in  so  far  as  the  existing 
opportunities  permit,  as  much  as  he  pleases  of  the  restricted 
total  of  labour  and  instruments  of  production,  to  use  up 
as  much  as  he  will  of  native  or  imported  raw  materials, 
and  even  to  interfere  with  the  course  of  foreign  exchanges. 
Capital,  labour  power,  and  materials  have  not  indeed  become 
the  property  of  the  community  in  accordance  with  the 
socialist  recipe,  but  they  have  been  placed  under  the 
guardianship  of  the  community. 

2.  When  the  days  of  trial  are  over,  when  this  supreme 
ordeal  of  our  political  and  economic  energies  is  at  an  end, 
economic  nationalism  will  perhaps  yield  to  more  reasonable 
outlooks.  We  must  not  overestimate  the  significance  of 
this  advance.  From  the  viewpoint  of  the  history  of  economic 
development,  it  may  well  be  that  this  period  of  extreme 
national  tension  is  destined  to  show  that,  by  an  adequate 
improvement  in  technical  methods,  the  inhabitants  of 
almost  every  area  can  wrest  from  their  own  territory  the 
products  that  are  indispensable  or  desirable.  In  so  far 
as  there  is  an  absolute  lack  of  any  necessary  articles,  these 
must  be  procured,  as  far  as  possible,  in  exchange  for  raw 
materials  which  are  a  natural  monopoly  of  the  area  concerned. 
In  international  arrangements  for  this  purpose  export 
tariffs  and  export  monopolies  will  assume  the  importance 
which  was  formerly  assumed  by  import  tariffs.  Further- 
more, great  natural  economic  groups  will  combine  to  form 
customs  unions.  Although  the  prohibitive  system  still 
seems  to  us  distasteful,  an  aesthetic  advantage  will  now 
accrue  to  this  system.  A  term  will  be  put  to  the  mechanistic 
standardisation  of  articles  of  consumption.  Just  as  in 
former  days  the  traveller  when  he  passed  from  town 
to  town  and  from  country  to  country  was  able  to  take 
delight  in  new  kinds  of  fruit,  confectionery,  furniture, 
clothing,  and  buildings,  so,  under  such  a  system  as  we  are 
suggesting,  the  products  of  each  country  will  display  the 
peculiarities  of  their  own  place  of  origin,  and  will  not 
appear  to  have  been  the  products  of  a  single  factory. 

While,  therefore,  remote  posterity  will  contemplate  the 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     235 

return  to  free  international  exchange  with  less  emotion 
than  we  to-day  contemplate  the  closure  of  the  world  market, 
we  have  to  reckon  with  the  fact  that  this  nationalistic 
cleavage,  so  long  as  it  endures,  will  have  a  cumulative 
influence,  and  will  therefore,  be  it  only  during  a  transitional 
period,  profoundly  modify  the  dominant  conception  of 
the  private  character  of  economic  activity. 

The    causes    of    the    extensive    economic    cleavage    we 
contemplate  are  obvious. 

The  war,  whatever  its  issue,  will  not  bring  satisfaction 
to  the  ultimate  wishes  of  the  combatants,  nor  will  it 
compensate  any  one  of  them  for  the  sacrifices  entailed. 
But  unquestionably  the  old  feelings  of  hatred  will  be  supple- 
mented by  new  feelings  of  the  same  kind,  aroused  and 
accentuated  by  the  war  debts,  for  in  this  terrible  ordeal, 
as  between  any  two  of  the  powers,  there  will  be  found 
occasion  for  mutual  recrimination.  Nationalism  will 
reawaken,  not  only  upon  the  political  field,  but  likewise  and 
to  a  greater  extent  upon  the  economic  field.  For  everyone 
accuses  all  the  others  of  having  ploughed  with  his  heifer  ; 
of  having  fought  against  him  with  his  own  capital,  with 
his  own  raw  materials,  with  wealth  grown  in  his  own 
meadows  and  acquired  in  his  own  territory.  Everyone 
feels  that  within  a  few  decades  the  sheer  might  of  possession, 
the  brute  force  of  economic  life,  would  have  brought  victory 
without  any  proof  of  martial  superiority.  Everyone  asks 
himself  how  so  colossal,  so  unimaginable  an  advantage  in 
the  economic  field  could  have  been  acquired.  Everyone 
answers,  I  have  myself  contributed  to  this  consummation. 
Everyone  feels  that  in  the  system  of  detached  economics, 
a  great  many  things  will  be  dearer,  and  many  commercial 
advantages  will  have  to  be  renounced.  But  the  war  has 
accustomed  us  to  renunciation,  and  it  has  accustomed  us 
to  high  prices.  People  will  rather  make  sacrifices  than 
gain  advantages  for  themselves  by  allowing  others  to  gain 
advantages  which  may  prove  politically  destructive  to  us. 
Even  if  the  conditions  of  the  peace  treaties  are  reasonable, 
the  field  will  still  be  left  open  for  chicanery  and  malice. 
Each  power  will  be  able  to  avail  itself  of  sanitary,  technical, 
and  administrative  measures.  Towns,  territories,  harbours, 
canals,  coaling  stations,  will  be  open  to  friends,  but  closed 


236     IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

to  enemies.  Besides,  these  measures  will  scarcely  be 
requisite,  since  the  mutual  hatred  of  the  nations  will  suffice. 

We  are  thus  entering  an  epoch  which  will  be  character- 
ised by  economic  nationalism,  leading,  if  not  to  an  absolute 
detachment  of  the  national  economic  systems,  at  least  to 
a  great  restriction  of  international  exchanges.  Consequently 
the  balance  of  trade  will  acquire  a  significance  even  greater 
than  that  which  was  assigned  to  it  on  other  grounds  in  the 
days  when  French  ideas  dominated  the  science  of  economics. 
There  will  arise  a  new  concept,  that  of  the  new  mercantile 
system. 

In  the  long  run,  no  country,  unless  it  receive  large  sums 
as  interest  upon  foreign  investments,  can  pay  for  imports 
other  than  with  exported  goods,  for  the  whole  of  its  monetary 
circulation  will  hardly  suffice  to  pay  for  a  single  quarter's 
imports.  Export  trade,  therefore,  is  neither  an  end  in 
itself,  nor  yet,  as  is  frequently  supposed,  a  sort  of  economic 
exuberance.  Export  is  the  payment  of  debt,  and  the 
antecedent  import  is  the  determinative  factor  in  the  economic 
relationship.  If  for  any  reason  export  were  interrupted 
while  the  import  of  indispensable  materials  continued, 
the  country  would  have  to  export  its  own  securities  and 
titles  to  property,  thus  gradually  transferring  economic 
supremacy  to  foreigners.  In  a  word,  it  would  be  bleeding 
itself  to  death. 

What  is  generally  true  of  consumption  and  payment,  is 
true  here.  I  can  decide  what  I  will  import  for  consumption  ; 
but  the  nature  of  the  exports  with  which  I  have  to  pay, 
is  decided  by  the  other  party.  If  he  pleases,  he  can  reject 
the  goods  I  offer,  because  he  dislikes  either  their  quality 
or  their  origin  ;  he  can  depreciate  their  value  by  imposing 
tariffs  which  will  mulct  the  seller  unless  he  have  a  monopoly 
of  what  he  is  offering.  Even  more  effective  than  tariffs 
are  various  artifices  for  interfering  with  the  freedom  of 
trade.  National  pride  may  come  into  play,  inasmuch  as 
a  deliberate  preference  may  be  given  to  native  products, 
even  if  these  be  more  costly.  A  depreciation  of  the  currency 
involves  higher  prices,  and  since  this  especially  affects  the 
most  indispensable  and  primary  products,  the  country 
concerned  produces  at  an  economic  disadvantage,  and  this 
adversely  influences  its  power  for  export. 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     237 

Once  more,  therefore,  just  as  happened  two  centuries 
ago,  though  from  a  different  motive,  economic  interest  is 
directed  to  the  balance  of  trade.  As  an  outcome  of  the 
enforced  trend  towards  separate  national  economies,  the 
new  mercantile  system  concentrates  its  attention,  no  longer 
upon  export  and  the  gold  reserves,  but  upon  import. 

Hitherto  it  has  been  taken  as  a  matter  of  course  that 
every  one  is  entitled  to  buy  abroad,  and  to  import,  whatever 
he  pleases.  We  are  now  beginning  to  realise  that  all  pur- 
chases abroad  impose  a  burden  upon  the  community. 
Every  imported  machine,  pearl,  or  bottle  of  champagne, 
nourishes  foreign  labour  power  and  sacrifices  a  share  of 
the  national  property.  But  it  does  more  than  this,  for  it 
puts  a  lien  upon  the  future  production  of  the  community. 
Because  of  this  import,  the  community  will  be  deprived 
of  the  power  to  produce  what  it  pleases  at  its  own  free  will 
and  pleasure,  and  will  be  compelled  to  produce  in  accordance 
with  foreign  dictation  in  order  to  pay  the  foreign  debt, 
to  produce  goods  which  the  foreigner  is  willing  to  buy. 
In  extreme  cases  it  may  happen  that  wealthy  persons  import 
luxuries  to  such  an  extent  that  there  actually  ensues  a 
scarcity  of  foodstuffs  and  raw  materials,  if  these  happen 
to  be  the  things  which  the  foreign  creditors  desire  and  which 
the  need  for  the  adjustment  of  the  foreign  exchanges  enables 
them  to  procure. 

These  considerations,  deduced  from  a  study  of  the  new 
mercantile  system,  will  render  it  necessary  to  supplement 
the  existing  agricultural  and  industrial  protection  and  the 
before-mentioned  protection  of  raw  materials,  to  establish 
a  general  protection  in  the  field  of  imports.  This  will 
apply  to  all  products  and  commodities  which  there  is  a 
tendency  to  import,  but  for  which  more  or  less  satisfactory 
substitutes  are  obtainable  from  domestic  sources.  Above 
all  it  will  apply  to  imported  luxuries. 

We  alluded  above  to  the  aesthetic  advantage  of  an 
economic  system  which  is  approximately  independent  of 
foreign  relationships.  It  is  now  necessary  to  mention  a 
noteworthy  aesthetic  disadvantage,  which  will  at  any  rate 
arise  in  a  period  of  transition.  For  reasons  which  have 
been  repeatedly  explained,  the  mechanised  production  of 
artificial  articles  of  consumption  is  already  a  sufficiently 


238     IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

lamentable  affair.  But  in  the  circumstances  that  have 
been  foreshadowed,  there  will  ensue  an  extensive  manufac- 
ture of  cheap  substitutes  and  more  or  less  fraudulent  imita- 
tions. The  results  of  this  process  will  be  far  less  gratifying 
than  those  of  the  simple  living  of  earlier  days  when  people 
were  content  to  forego.  We  must  console  ourselves  with 
faith  in  human  goodwill  and  in  the  prospective  growth  of 
a  healthy  national  sentiment,  whereby  in  course  of  time 
people  will  learn  to  make  a  virtue  of  necessity  in  a  literal 
sense,  and  will  acquire  new  tastes  and  characteristics. 

Thus  from  the  concept  of  a  national  detachment  of  the 
economic  systems  there  ensues  a  second  abrogation  of  the 
principle  of  individualist  economies. 

3.  Of  all  the  consequences  of  the  war,  not  excepting 
any  conceivable  political  transformation,  the  most  momen- 
tous will  be  the  changes  in  the  stratification  of  property 
and  the  temporary  impoverishment  of  European  lands. 
Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  social  consequences. 
Once  more  we  are  faced  by  the  economic  problem  of  the 
new  formation  of  capital.  In  post-war  conditions  this  will 
be  rendered  more  difficult  by  the  origination  of  a  new  class 
of  holders  of  state  bonds,  by  the  losses  that  will  have  been 
sustained  in  labour  power  and  intelligence,  by  the  impending 
burdens  upon  trade  and  traffic,  and  by  enhanced  internal 
friction. 

Obvious  is  the  need  for  prolonged  labour  at  high  tension, 
but  the  limits  of  this  need  can  be  foreseen.  More  important 
and  more  desirable  are  the  prospects  of  increased  efficiency 
in  the  utilisation  of  labour  power,  raw  materials,  machinery, 
economic  methods,  and  capital.  These  questions — including 
to  a  great  extent  the  last-named — have  hitherto  been  left 
for  decision  to  the  working  of  the  acquisitive  impulse  and 
of  free  competition.  This  was  permissible  as  long  as  the 
increase  in  wellbeing  exceeded  all  reasonable  demands. 
But  henceforward,  far  more  than  of  old,  the  national  power 
will  be  dependent  upon  material  equipment  for  war,  and 
the  measure  of  this  equipment  will  be  dependent  upon  the 
competition  between  the  powers  regardless  of  the  temporary 
level  of  wellbeing — a  competition  which  will  have  been 
tested  in  the  fires  of  war.  Consequently,  the  restoration 
and  increase  of  the  national  wealth  has  acquired  enhanced 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    239 

political  importance.  This  is  a  matter  for  which  the 
community  organised  as  the  state  will  henceforward  be 
responsible. 

The  state  will  have  to  intervene  when,  however  favourable 
the  circumstances,  free  competition  has  failed  to  give  the 
best  results.  It  will  have  to  intervene  when  the  power  of 
individual  enterprise  proves  insufficient  to  secure  the 
desired  economic  effects.  It  will  have  to  intervene  when 
the  temporary  interests  of  the  individual  conflict  with  the 
permanent  interests  of  the  community. 

The  most  immediate  necessity  is  that  the  economic 
efficiency  of  manufacturing  and  agricultural  enterprises 
should  be  carefully  studied.  Obsolete  appliances,  those 
which  waste  mechanical  power,  materials,  and  labour, 
must  be  renovated.  If  this  will  not  pay,  such  enterprises 
must  be  shut  down.  There  must  be  a  centralisation  of 
the  production  of  energy.  Syndicates  must  be  placed 
under  supervision.  In  so  far  as  they  have  tended  to  keep 
artificially  alive,  to  the  detriment  of  the  consumer,  enter- 
prises in  an  unfavourable  situation  or  badly  administered, 
they  can  be  constrained  to  close  these  defective  works. 
Manufacturing  companies  must  be  held  responsible  for  the 
consumption  of  raw  material ;  economy  in  this  department 
must  be  enforced,  together  with  every  possible  means  for 
the  utilisation  of  waste  products.  Small-scale  enterprises 
which  lack  adequate  technical  equipment  can  be  amalga- 
mated to  form  cooperative  institutions. 

Of  greater  moment,  and  more  difficult  than  the  develop- 
ment of  the  individual  enterprises,  is  it  to  promote  a  general 
increase  in  the  efficiency  of  economic  methods  and  customs. 
This  is  more  difficult,  because  it  involves  interference  with 
the  habits  of  the  consumer. 

Per  se  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference  that  a  cigar  or  a 
hairpin,  on  its  way  from  the  producer  to  the  consumer, 
should  have  its  price  increased  by  a  certain  percentage, 
or  even  that  its  price  should  be  multiplied  many  times. 
In  the  case  of  textiles,  likewise,  this  is  of  little  moment, 
unless  we  have  to  do  with  the  indispensable  needs  of  the 
poor.  As  far  as  luxuries  are  concerned,  it  is  a  good  thing 
that  consumption  should  be  restricted  by  high  prices.  It 
is  to  the  communal  interest  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of 


240     IN        DAYS        TO         COME 

hands  and  heads  should  not  be  misused  ;    that  the  distribu- 
tion  of  commodities  should   not  involve  needless   waiting 
and  travelling,   puffery   and   persuasion ;    that   millions  of 
the  national  property  should  not  be  dissipated  in  the  pro- 
vision   of    countless    wholesale,    retail,    and    intermediate 
depots.     Perhaps  somewhat  less  tobacco  would  be  consumed, 
were  it  not  that  at  every  street  corner  two  partially  occupied 
employees  are  established  to  await  custom,  established  in 
shops  whose  yearly  rent  would  suffice  to  plaster  their  walls 
with  silver.     Perhaps  less  soap  and  writing  paper  would 
be  sold  if  the  customer  had  to  walk  two  hundred  yards 
further  before  he  could  buy  it.     Perchance  the  petty  retail 
trade  in  haberdashery  would  be  less  strenuous  if  the  shop- 
keeper had  to  seek  out  the  wholesaler  twice  a  year,  instead 
of  being  visited  by  a  glib  traveller  twice  a  week.     It  is 
possible  that  ladies  would  complain  if  a  thousand  patterns 
the  less  were  put  upon  the  market  year  by  year,  although 
half  of  the  stuffs,  rejected  by  the  public,  are  wasted,  so 
that  their  cost  has  to  be  recovered  out  of  the  materials 
actually  used.     The  organised  competition  for  the  adver- 
tising of  numerous  similar  articles  may  to  a  certain  extent 
stimulate   sales.     Nevertheless,   all   these   are   questions   of 
individual,  not  of  communal  interest.    As  far  as  the  com- 
munity is    concerned,  the  only   thing   that  matters  is  the 
economising  of  national  labour  power  and  capital.     It  is 
for  the  community  to  consider  whether  it  is  possible  to 
transform   the   commercial   methods   and   customs   of   the 
country,   to   make  large   quantities   of   squandered   labour 
power   productive,   to   avoid   the   undue   multiplication   of 
shops,  the  spoiling  of  goods,  and  the  needless  increase  in 
prices.    Available  means  for  the  attainment  of  these  ends 
are :   the  formation  of  cooperatives  of  producers,  traders, 
and  consumers ;    agreements  for  the  restriction  of  patterns 
and  samples ;    the  standardisation  of  credit ;    a  reduction 
in  the  number  of  small  shops,  and  the  regulation  of  the 
work  and  the  gains  of  middlemen. 

The  right  of  the  community  to  dispose  of  the  labour 
power  of  the  country  can  be  extended.  To-day  every  well- 
to-do  person  is  free  to  remain  unemployed,  thus  securing 
support  from  the  community  without  any  reciprocal  service 
beyond  the  lending  of  his  means.  He  is  free,  though  he 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      W^L  L     241 

lack  specialised  capacity,  to  enter  one  of  the  liberal  profes- 
sions, and  to  lead  an  idle  life  upon  the  pretence  that  he 
occupies  an  elevated  social  position.  Nay  more,  anyone 
who  pleases,  may  withdraw  as  much  as  he  likes  from  the 
labour  energies  of  the  country.  As  long  as  he  pays  his 
workmen  their  wages  he  can  set  them  to  any  task,  no  matter 
whether  it  is  necessary  or  unnecessary.  If  he  is  sufficiently 
rich,  he  can  employ  any  number  of  individuals  as  servants, 
thus  withdrawing  them  from  productive  work.  In  case  of 
need,  such  practices  must  be  exposed  and  restricted. 

Immediate  steps  must  be  taken  to  do  away  with  the 
abuses  which  result  from  the  unrestricted  private  control 
of  capital.  To-day,  for  instance,  everyone  is  entitled  to 
invest  his  share  of  the  national  property  as  he  pleases, 
either  at  home  or  abroad.  The  consequence  is  that  private 
individuals,  banks,  or  limited  companies  offer  values  for 
sale  as  the  state  of  the  capital  market  may  direct,  home 
securities  and  foreign  securities,  with  no  other  control 
than  that  dependent  upon  consideration  for  the  reasonable 
safety  of  the  investment  or  for  a  superficial  political 
examination  of  the  relationships  between  the  lending 
country  and  the  borrowing  foreign  state.  Provided  that 
this  state  places  a  few  orders  for  manufactured  articles, 
no  one  troubles  to  reflect  that  this  will  merely  serve  to 
furnish  a  comparatively  trifling  immediate  advantage, 
and  no  one  is  perturbed  because  with  the  proceeds  of  the 
loan  the  borrower  proceeds  to  found  an  enterprise  which 
maintains  foreign  wage-earners  and  employees,  and  encour- 
ages foreign  production.  All  that  the  investor  asks  is  that 
the  capital  thus  withdrawn  from  home  industries  should 
return  a  somewhat  higher  interest  than  is  obtainable  upon 
home  investments. 

The  need  for  an  adequate  supply  of  fresh  capital  will 
lead  to  the  view  that  the  rate  of  interest  must  not  be  the 
sole  guide  in  the  choice  of  investment.  As  regards  home 
investment  likewise,  the  question  of  general  economic 
demand  must  be  considered,  and  it  must  be  recognised  that 
the  true  intensity  of  this  demand  is  not  always  reflected 
in  the  interest  obtainable.  Were  it  so  reflected,  a  gaming 
house  would  represent  the  highest  possible  economic  de- 
mand. In  especial,  the  export  of  capital  should  never 

16 


242     IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

be  guided  by  the  rate  of  interest  offered  upon  the  invest- 
ment, but  always  by  consideration  of  the  political  and 
economic  returns  that  are  to  be  anticipated.  Only  in 
exceptional  cases  should  foreign  investment  be  approved 
and  permitted.  There  should  not  be  free  trade  in  capital, 
but  protection. 

4.  The  restratification  of  property  as  an  outcome  of 
the  economics  of  the  war  period  secures  expression  in  the 
growth  of  the  national  debt.  Sums  equal  in  amount  to 
the  annual  national  savings  of  pre-war  days  must  be  levied 
by  the  community  and  handed  over  as  interest  to  the 
holders  of  national  bonds,  who  of  course  on  their  side  as 
taxpayers  have  to  contribute  a  portion  of  the  sum  thus 
levied.  In  other  words,  the  sum  total  of  the  savings  flows 
through  the  hands  of  the  state,  to  be  redistributed. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  levying  of  such  sums  cannot  be 
effected  by  the  old  means.  No  matter  whether  the  method 
of  a  levy  on  capital,  death  duties,  monopolies,  income  tax, 
a  business  tax,  a  tax  on  production,  or  the  aggregate  of  these 
financial  measures,  be  employed — the  idea  of  the  sanctity 
of  private  property  is  shattered.  The  notion  becomes 
established  that  the  state  is  no  longer  to  be  regarded  as  an 
importunate  poor  relation  and  fobbed  off  grudgingly  with 
a  tithe,  but  that  it  is  entitled  to  dispose  of  the  capital  and 
income  of  all  its  members  at  its  own  free  will.  If,  more- 
over, by  the  confiscation  of  property  or  by  the  monopoly 
of  certain  kinds  of  enterprise,  the  state  becomes  owner 
and  administrator  of  innumerable  economic  interests,  and 
if  it  is  entitled  at  its  discretion  to  assign  these  interests  to 
semi-state  or  mixed-economic  institutions,  then  there  will 
have  fallen  the  last  barriers  which  separated  the  individualist 
economic  system  as  the  reputed  affair  of  private  persons 
from  the  affairs  of  the  community  organised  as  the  state. 
In  a  word,  like  all  material  activities,  economics  will  have 
been  recognised  as  being,  directly  or  indirectly,  a  state 
concern. 

The  duration  of  the  war  and  the  nature  of  the  peace 
will  determine  how  speedily  and  to  what  extent  the  changes 
we  have  been  considering  will  take  place.  We  started  with 
the  assumption  that  they  must  only  be  accounted  prepara- 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     243 

tory  phenomena  ;  for  though  a  temporal  phenomenon  may 
have  a  preparatory,  accelerating,  and  solvent  influence, 
yet,  however  great  its  dimensions,  it  cannot  change  the 
human  heart.  The  great  advances  of  mankind  are  brought 
about  by  changes  in  inmost  sentiment,  in  accordance  with 
the  operation  of  ultimate  laws.  If  among  the  powers 
moved  by  the  will,  there  be  any  one  which  penetrates  into 
these  depths,  it  is  the  power  of  intuition.  Even  if  this  be 
illusion,  and  if  in  reality  intuition  can  move  nothing,  but 
functions  merely  as  a  harmonious  accompaniment  to  the 
movement  decreed  by  primal  laws,  nevertheless  our  duty 
remains  unchanged.  In  the  resulting  harmony,  we  must 
seek  the  clarity  of  intuition  with  the  same  freedom  and 
with  the  same  sense  of  responsibility  as  if  our  voice  had 
sung  the  dominant  theme. 

But  even  if  we  regard  the  consequences  of  the  war  (be 
they  grave  or  be  they  insignificant)  as  no  more  than  pre- 
paratory phenomena,  their  trend,  since  it  is  towards  an 
excessive  strengthening  of  the  state  vis-a-vis  the  individual, 
is  of  such  a  character  as  to  demand  with  renewed  emphasis 
the  creation  of  the  people's  state.  For  such  a  plenitude 
of  power  on  the  one  side  and  so  extensive  a  surrender  on 
the  other  cannot  be  demanded  and  granted  as  between 
class  and  class,  but  only  as  between  the  people  and  itself. 
Gross  would  be  the  injustice  and  terrible  the  responsibility 
if  in  oriental  fashion  hereditary  castes  were  to  arrogate 
quasi-divine  powers,  and  were  in  the  name  of  God  to 
demand  sacrifices  which  the  priest  consumes. 

We  have  recognised  and  demonstrated  that  Germany's 
demand  for  the  people's  state  is  timely  and  inevitable. 
We  have  studied  the  political  qualities  of  the  Germans  ; 
above  all,  the  qualities  which  have  a  restrictive  tendency. 
We  have  expounded  the  immediate  and  the  remoter  conse- 
quences of  the  war,  and  we  have  realised  that  something 
which  has  long  been  stationary  has  been  set  in  motion. 
Before  we  approach  the  last  part  of  our  political  task,  before 
we  consider  the  resolves  and  the  measures  requisite  for  the 
attainment  of  the  goal,  we  have  to  realise  a  strange  fact, 
that  this  last  and  extremely  practical  consideration,  however 
unambiguous  it  may  seem,  is  far  from  decisive.  Indeed, 


244    IN        DAYS        TO        GOME 

we  have  to  advance  a  step  further,  for  we  must  attempt  to 
refute  a  number  of  the  oldest  and  most  popular  political 
ideas. 

If  anyone  wishes  to  plant  a  forest,  he  will  choose  an 
appropriate  site.  He  will  select  trees  suited  to  the  local 
conditions,  and  will  not,  for  instance,  set  olives  or  cypresses 
in  Brandenburg.  Trained  foresters  will  supervise  the 
work.  For  the  rest,  he  will  leave  matters  to  the  influences 
of  air  and  sunlight,  rain  and  frost.  Without  interfering  in 
the  struggle  of  plants  and  insects,  the  stems  and  the  crests, 
he  will  watch  the  growth  of  the  green  canopy  which  will 
shade  his  children  and  grandchildren.  If  anyone  is  made 
responsible  for  a  number  of  economic  enterprises,  he  will 
lay  their  foundations,  determine  their  aims,  establish  the 
principles  which  seem  to  him  desirable,  thrift  or  expan- 
sibility, intensity  or  multiplicity — but  unless  there  is  urgent 
need  he  will  never  interfere  in  the  details  of  organisation, 
for  these  will  be  entrusted  to  his  chosen  administrators. 

Repeatedly  we  have  referred  to  the  atmosphere  of  the 
state,  as  contrasted  with  the  rigid  institutions  of  the  state. 
This  atmosphere  is  nourished  by  the  will  of  the  people,  by 
its  convictions,  its  valuations,  its  general  outlook.  Under 
the  influence  of  these  emanations,  inappropriate  institutions 
and  laws  perish  ;  others  are  filled  with  a  new  content  ; 
others  grow.  But  the  atmosphere  itself  is  not  the  outcome 
of  institutions,  although  for  a  time  it  may  be  overcast  by 
institutions.  It  is  erroneous  to  believe  that  institutions 
are  unambiguous  in  their  determinism.  An  enterprise 
loses  its  creative  chief ;  under  its  successor  it  exhibits  new 
trends.  A  storm  breaks  one  of  the  main  branches  of  a 
tree  ;  a  lesser  branch  takes  on  more  active  growth,  and 
becomes  a  main  branch.  A  state  is  conquered  in  war, 
and  thereupon  undertakes  new  duties  and  exhibits  new 
formations.  Vital  energy  and  a  suitable  environment  are 
the  prerequisites  ;  the  will  and  the  contents  of  consciousness 
are  determinative  ;  structure  and  growth  are  ambiguous, 
though  always  pregnant  with  destiny. 

For  this  reason  those  are  mistaken  who  regard  as  primarily 
decisive,  aristocracy  and  democracy,  parliamentarism  and 
absolutism,  though  these  may  speciously  appear  to  be  funda- 
mental political  forms.  When  anyone  enquires  whether  I  am 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     245 

a  democrat  or  an  absolutist,  I  feel  as  if  he  were  a  schoolman 
asking  me  about  nominalism  and  realism.  I  can  only 
reply  with  an  oracular  "  Nay,  nay  I  "  A  radical  democracy 
may  disclose  itself  to  be  a  masked  absolutism  or  a  pluto- 
cratic oligarchy ;  an  absolutist  state  system  may  prove  a 
veneered  mob-rule.  Each  of  these  categories,  when  reduced 
to  its  simplest  form,  is  absolutely  unmeaning.  Never  can 
an  individual  exercise  universal  power,  for  this  would  make 
him  infinite.  If  demos  were  really  to  rule,  it  would  cease 
to  be  demos.  The  institutions  of  civilised  states,  whatever 
names  they  bear  and  whatever  forms  they  assume,  are,  in 
the  composition  of  their  complex  balances,  far  more  similar 
than  is  commonly  supposed.  Wonderfully  diverse  is  the 
spirit  wherewith  they  are  animated.  Speaking  generally,  as 
they  mature,  they  vary  from  their  primitive  type  :  republics 
grow  conservative  ;  monarchies  are  liberalised. 

Should  the  German  people  desire  it,  then,  without  the 
changing  of  a  line  in  the  written  law,  and  without  the 
slightest  modification  of  the  Prussian  suffrage,  every  wish 
of  the  growing  people's  state  could  be  fulfilled.  Were  but 
the  summons  to  responsibility  and  freedom  which  this  book 
utters,  raised  by  a  thousand  clearer  voices,  were  it  but  to 
fructify  in  the  souls  of  the  Germans,  then,  notwithstand- 
ing vested  interests,  the  thought  of  all  the  political  parties 
would  be  so  profoundly  modified  that,  regardless  of  electoral 
geometry  and  arithmetic,  the  right  men  would  be  found 
and  the  right  ideas  would  be  realised.  Parties  would  cease 
to  be  what  they  are  to-day,  the  champions  of  interested 
programmes  and  the  expounders  of  apologias.  They  would 
become  the  natural  oppositions  of  the  How  upon  the  common 
platform  of  the  What. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  show  my  cards  to  the  devotees  of 
the  thing  that  is,  for  I  have  full  confidence  in  the  youthful 
energy  of  our  newly  welded  and  recently  proved  people. 
That  people  will  be  concerned  about  the  wine  and  not  about 
the  bottles,  though  it  will  doubtless  replace  some  of  the  old 
bottles  lest  too  much  of  the  wine  should  be  wasted.  Away 
then  with  these  bugbears  of  democracy  and  parliamentarism, 
oligarchy  and  absolutism. 

Even  the  most  rigid  absolutism  is  democracy,  falsified 
in  its  forms.  The  absolute  dynast  has  the  right  and  the 


246     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

power  to  crush  and  to  destroy  any  portion  of  his  people 
upon  whom  his  glance  may  fall.  Nevertheless  the  uncrushed 
portions  (for  he  cannot  annihilate  them  all)  rule  him  and 
rule  through  him,  even  though  it  be  under  the  cloak  of 
Byzantinism.  Absolutism  is  the  popular  government  exer- 
cised by  one  portion  of  the  people  over  another,  and  this 
partial  democracy  shades  off  into  the  feudalist  or  pluto- 
cratic rule  of  constitutional  monarchies.  Invalid  is  the 
objection  that  the  person  of  the  dynast  constitutes  as  it 
were  a  third  power,  individual  and  independent.  Even  in 
the  great  crises  of  war  and  peace,  the  individuality  of  such 
a  ruler  can  hardly  exercise  so  fateful  a  power,  can  scarcely 
decree  good  fortune  or  ill.  The  structure  of  the  modern 
state  is  so  infinitely  ramified  that  this  third  power  cannot 
exercise  permanent  influence,  even  though  it  be  endowed 
with  the  enduring  independence  of  genius.  In  earlier  days 
the  dynast  could  incorporate  a  third  policy,  that  of  the 
reigning  family,  that  of  the  church,  that  of  a  foreign  state, 
or  that  of  the  patriarch.  To-day,  in  and  through  him,  one 
part  of  the  nation  rules  another.  Nor  is  an  oligarchy  in 
any  better  case,  for  this  can  only  establish  its  plutocracy 
with  the  aid  of  its  supporters.  A  portion  of  the  nation,  a 
portion  which  ostensibly  it  controls,  but  which  in  reality 
controls  it,  must  stand  behind  the  oligarchy  to  enable  it  to 
rule  the  residue  of  the  nation. 

In  like  manner  democracy  as  a  pure  concept  is  impossible, 
unless  it  be  in  those  rare  and  brief  periods  of  transition 
wherein  the  nation  is  ruled  by  a  mob  oligarchy,  and  wherein 
for  a  time  traditional  authority  is  in  abeyance.  If  there 
then  exist  any  orderly  forms  of  government  (and  no  civilised 
state  can  carry  on  its  functions  for  more  than  a  few  months 
without  such  forms),  the  people  can  never  exercise  this  sway. 
It  has  no  option  but  to  consign  its  powers,  to  entrust  them 
to  confidential  agents,  and  thus  to  establish  a  temporary 
oligarchy  and  absolutism  to  which,  for  good  or  for  evil,  the 
people  will  have  to  commit  the  most  extensive  powers  over 
its  own  self.  There  will  now  arise  many  of  those  abuses 
which  to  us  Germans  seem  to  be  the  inevitable  accompani- 
ments of  democracy,  and  which  account  for  our  great 
hostility  towards  this  pseudo-concept.  The  people  can, 
whenever  it  pleases,  interfere  with  the  specialist  activities 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     247 

of  its  confidential  agents,  can  harass  them  by  inept  meddling, 
can  cashier  them  at  inopportune  times,  and  can  appoint 
incompetent  favourites  to  important  posts.  A  struggle  for 
power  begins,  and  rages  unchecked.  Noisy  electoral 
campaigns  ensue  ;  the  electorate  is  bribed,  the  necessary 
funds  being  secured  by  a  corrupt  use  of  official  powers. 
Chatterers  and  clamourers,  adventurers  and  crossuses, 
lawyers,  journalists,  speculators,  and  generals,  grapple  with 
one  another  for  power  and  money.  It  does  not  concern  us 
that  under  changed  names  the  same  things  may  take  place 
in  monarchies,  as  ministerial  extravagance,  dilettantism, 
frequent  changes  of  government,  intrigues,  toadying,  bluff, 
venality,  cliquism,  militarist  authoritarianism,  class  justice, 
and  the  like.  Nor  does  it  concern  us  that  exceptionally  able 
dynasts  can  hold  such  abuses  in  leash  ;  or  that  good  demo- 
cracies, like  that  of  Switzerland,  the  Netherlands,  Sweden, 
the  Hansa  towns,  and  many  of  the  German  municipalities, 
can  minimise  the  evil  trends.  These  things  are  not  matters 
of  form,  but  of  substance  ;  they  are  spiritual  traits  of  the 
nations  in  which  they  originate.  What  concerns  us  is  this. 
Democracy  itself  is  not  popular  government,  but  the  rule 
of  part  of  the  people  by  another  part.  In  most  cases  it  is 
the  rule  of  the  country  dwellers  by  the  town  dwellers,  of  the 
permanently  poor  by  the  permanently  rich,  of  the  uncultured 
by  the  half-cultured. 

Vital  as  differences  in  constitutional  forms  may  seem, 
they  do  not  really  touch  the  core  of  the  matter.  These 
diverse  forms  have  similar  merits  and  similar  defects,  how- 
ever various  their  formulas  and  their  rituals.  Now  one 
method  of  government,  now  another,  will  work  well  or  ill, 
will  show  itself  efficient  or  inefficient.  But  in  one  point  they 
are  all  alike,  in  that  they  split  the  nation  into  rulers  and 
ruled. 

Since  new  ideas  make  a  more  definite  impression  on  the 
mind  when  they  are  associated  with  a  new  name,  it  will 
be  well  to  use  the  term  organocracy  to  express  the  demand 
which  the  people's  state  will  make  of  its  constitutional 
structures,  whether  these  in  point  of  form  be  dynastic  or 
democratic.  But  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  in  this  case 
likewise  it  is  not  the  letter  which  is  vital,  but  the  folk-spirit. 

The  term  implies  that  there  must  be  no  fixity  as  between 


248     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

ruled  and  ruling  masses  ;  that  control  must  be  exercised  by 
the  organic  movement  of  life  itself  in  the  systole  and  diastole 
of  spirits  and  energies.  Every  member  of  the  nation  must 
be  summoned  to  lordship  and  to  service,  to  responsibility 
and  to  function.  Never  must  the  spirit  sink  into  a  slough, 
and  never  must  it  languish.  Every  adequate  energy  must 
be  entitled  to  culture  and  to  suitable  occupation.  We  must 
have,  not  equality  of  rights  and  duties,  but  equality  of 
opportunity.  There  will  be  no  universal  claim  to  be  chosen, 
and  yet  everyone  will  be  summoned  to  the  position  for  which 
he  is  best  fitted.  The  people  will  not  rule,  will  not  exercise 
lordship,  and  yet  it  will  constitute  the  perpetually  self- 
renewing  raw  material  of  the  rulers  and  the  lords — with  the 
exception  of  the  monarchy,  which  stands  apart  and  will  be 
hereditary,  although  this  ruling  family  will  be  able  to  re- 
juvenate its  stock  by  an  admixture  of  the  healthy  blood  of 
the  people.  Hereditary  advantages  will  always  remain,  for 
dispositions,  experiences,  culture,  and  talent,  can  be  trans- 
mitted by  inheritance.  But  we  must  not  assume  the 
existence  of  these  hereditary  endowments  unless  proof  is 
forthcoming.  Neither  in  the  case  of  virtues  and  gifts,  nor 
in  the  case  of  vices  and  defects,  must  we  deduce  their  presence 
in  the  offspring  simply  because  they  have  existed  in  the 
parent.  Popular  culture  and  education  will  become  the 
supreme  task  of  domestic  policy ;  the  careful  selection  and 
development  of  every  kind  of  talent  will  be  the  foundation  of 
all  social  work.  Religion  and  ritual  will  be  supported  by 
the  state,  but  will  be  allowed  to  develop  their  doctrines  in 
freedom.  No  one  is  entitled  to  misapply  the  spiritual  goods 
of  the  nation  in  order  to  promote  the  interests  of  any  class  or 
social  group. 

It  is  certain  that  at  this  point  the  charge  of  utopianism 
will  be  made.  Such  a  charge  can  never  be  rebutted  dia- 
lectically.  Everyone  who  is  accustomed  in  practical  life  to 
make  resolves  and  to  carry  them  into  effect,  is  well  aware, 
when  he  has  to  encounter  hostile  criticism,  that  the  most 
inexorable  charge  of  impossibility  is  invariably  levelled 
against  optimistic  ideas.  The  catchwords  of  these  sterile 
critics,  the  formulas  that  have  given  the  deathblow  to  many 
an  excellent  design,  are  "  fanciful  plans,"  "  aimless  ideas," 
"  finely  conceived  but  utterly  unpractical  schemes."  We 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     249 

naturally  ask  in  what  mood  any  strong  and  good  undertaking 
is  to  be  launched  into  the  world.  It  will  certainly  not  be 
launched  with  general  approbation,  for  the  average  man 
approves  only  the  things  with  which  he  is  familiar.  Any 
demand  which,  though  current,  is  unrealised,  must  be  nuga- 
tory, for  were  it  otherwise  it  would  long  ago  have  been  put 
into  practice  by  general  consent.  This  is  why  the  world  has 
always  greeted  new  goods  with  disdain,  as  everyone  is  aware 
who  has  ever  brought  such  a  new  good  to  the  world  ;  anything 
which  is  not  greeted  with  a  chorus  of  disapproval,  must  be 
a  thing  of  little  worth. 

I  know  that  this  principle  is  not  reversible.  There  are 
things  which  appear  aimless  and  really  are  so.  Nevertheless, 
when  there  exists  an  inner  certitude  though  proof  be  lacking, 
it  is  well  to  justify  the  confidence  which  draws  its  strength 
from  a  few  experiences.  We  must  not  allow  our  hopes  to 
be  dashed  by  the  first  accusation  of  utopianism. 

No  proof  can  be  furnished  that  it  is  possible  to  establish 
a  state  structure  which,  like  a  living  organism,  shall  draw 
its  best  energies  from  all  strata  of  the  body  politic  ;  which, 
in  its  dealings  with  sixty  millions,  shall  aim  at  reaping  a 
harvest  of  genius,  talent,  and  character,  competent  to  put 
the  Napoleonic  militarist  levies  into  the  shade  ;  a  state 
structure  which,  without  detriment  to  the  diversities  of 
gifts  and  duties,  shall  have  as  its  supporters  none  but  free 
and  self-determining  individuals.  We  can  give  no  proof ; 
we  can  only  adduce  analogies.  From  among  all  great  and 
flourishing  human  creations  of  an  organic  and  self-renovating 
type,  I  select  a  German  example — the  Prussian  army. 

Everyone  knows  that  the  professional  entry  into  this 
organism  is  not  open  to  all.  The  restriction  does  not  concern 
us  here.  What  we  have  to  consider  is  the  process  of  free 
and  self-acting  selection  from  lieutenant  up  to  general  staff 
officer,  regimental  commander,  and  brigadier.  In  the 
highest  grades,  other  principles  of  selection  are  operative, 
and  these  will  not  now  be  discussed.  The  method  of  tests 
and  observations,  the  system  of  training  in  the  military 
academies,  practical  work,  and  work  on  the  staff,  are  familiar. 
No  one  has  ever  challenged  the  assertion  that  this  formation 
of  energies  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  selects  almost 
unceasingly  the  ablest  for  posts  of  decisive  responsibility, 


250    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

while  eliminating  the  unfit,  and  retaining  those  of  medium 
capacity  for  the  performance  of  average  tasks.  Since  in 
the  first  selection  of  the  entrants  the  feudalist  principle  has 
unrestricted  play,  and  thereby  the  disposition  of  the  entire 
body  of  officers  is  normalised,  it  results  that  the  process  of 
selection  within  that  body  is  quite  independent  of  class 
considerations.  Astounding  as  the  assertion  may  seem,  the 
selection  is  democratic,  not  in  the  sense  that  promotion  is 
the  outcome  of  a  majority  vote,  but  in  the  sense  that  there 
does  not  exist  any  superior  stratum  whose  privileges  are 
based  upon  caste,  for  the  superior  stratum  continually 
recruits  itself  by  prescribed  methods  of  selection  out  of  a 
homogeneous  subaltern  stratum.  The  most  decisive  point 
is  that  this  recruitment  of  the  upper  stratum  is  effected 
without  any  interference  from  without,  without  any  monopoly 
conferred  by  seniority,  and  without  any  restriction  of 
competition  among  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  who 
have  once  been  admitted  to  the  officers'  corps.  Even 
during  the  reigns  of  the  two  unmilitarist  kings,  Frederick 
William  II  and  Frederick  William  IV,  the  spirit  of  the  army 
remained  unaffected.  The  body  was  so  healthy,  the  method 
was  so  perfect,  that  organic  growth  continued  though  proper 
headship  was  lacking. 

This  brief  critical  study  of  fundamental  political  concepts 
must  not  be  brought  to  a  close  without  a  reference  to  the 
nature  of  parliamentarism ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  well- 
grounded  and  increasing  dissatisfaction  with  all  existing 
parliamentary  systems,  new  and  important  tasks  are  con- 
tinually being  entrusted  to  representative  governments. 

The  bodies  which  were  originally  assemblies  of  the  estates, 
summoned  to  approve  and  apportion  taxation,  have  by  the 
Substitution  of  the  Content  been  transformed  into  legislative 
corporations,  and  in  parliamentary  states  into  governing 
corporations.  Originating  in  the  representation  of  the 
interests  of  estates  and  in  the  representation  of  local  interests, 
they  have  derived  from  this  origin,  and  still  for  the  most 
part  retain,  the  unmeaning,  and  in  modern  times  disastrous, 
method  of  election  by  local  constituencies,  which  annihilates 
minorities,  breaks  up  the  country  into  numerous  and  factitious 
atoms,  and  falsifies  the  electoral  act.  The  ideal  working 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     251 

of  parliament  is  manifested  in  the  assignment  of  powers. 
The  people  assigns  to  an  assembly  whatever  legislative 
powers  it  may  possess  ;  under  a  system  of  parliamentary 
government,  this  assembly  assigns  the  executive  power  to 
a  committee  or  cabinet.  In  theory,  the  legislative  faculty 
is  sharply  distinguished  from  the  executive  faculty ;  in 
practice,  the  distinction  cannot  be  maintained,  for,  in 
essentials,  legislation  is  initiated  by  the  government,  whilst 
the  national  assembly,  by  its  power  of  approval  and  of  veto, 
is  continually  interfering  with  the  doings  of  the  executive. 
Both  in  respect  of  the  legislative  and  in  respect  of  the 
executive  function,  the  work  of  parliament  is  critical  and 
restrictive.  For  the  most  part  parliament  alters  bills  for  the 
worse  and  disturbs  the  work  of  administration. 

Nevertheless  parliaments  are  indispensable.  They  have 
an  obvious  mechanical  advantage  in  that  they  enforce 
publicity,  exercise  control  over  public  life,  and  secure  a 
considerable  degree  of  outward  conformity  with  a  notable 
moiety  of  public  opinion.  These  influences  are  essential, 
but  the  same  effects  could  be  obtained  by  other  and  simpler 
means.  The  real  reason,  however,  why  parliaments  are 
indispensable  becomes  apparent  when,  theory  apart,  we 
study  the  practical  working  of  popular  representation,  and 
especially  when  we  consider  states  where  parliamentary 
government  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term  prevails. 

Parliament  is  conceived  to  be  a  deliberative  organ. 
Theoretically,  it  is  a  reduced  image,  an  epitome,  of  the  nation, 
where  the  nation's  affairs  are  discussed.  But  in  reality 
nothing  of  the  kind  occurs.  It  is  true  that  parliament  is  the 
nation  in  miniature,  an  arithmetically  reduced  image,  and 
more  or  less  a  caricature.  It  is,  in  fact,  an  image  of  coarsely 
sketched  interests.  This  image  condenses  to  form  majorities, 
and  thus  acts  as  a  kind  of  primitive  filter,  which  is  assumed 
to  permit  the  passage  of  precisely  those  legislative  proposals 
that  express  the  wills  and  the  interests  of  the  majority  of 
the  people  at  any  particular  time.  But  this  also  is  a  fiction, 
for  the  people  as  a  rule  pays  little  attention  to  legislative 
proposals ;  dissolutions  of  parliament  and  new  elections 
often  change  the  picture  completely  ;  and  the  parliamentary 
majority  rarely  corresponds  precisely  with  the  majority  of 
the  people — in  so  far  as  it  is  permissible  to  speak  of  a  majority 


252     IN        DAYS        TO         COME 

of  the  people  as  holding  any  particular  view  upon  a  concrete 
question. 

Thus  there  is  a  certain  arithmetical  image  of  the  people 
in  parliament,  but  the  image  is  often  a  distorted  one.  It 
gives  its  decisions  by  voting.  But  it  does  not  consult  or 
deliberate. 

Parliament  is  a  place  where  speeches  are  made.  A 
speech  may  convey  approval  or  protest ;  it  may  deal  with 
principles  or  may  discuss  theories ;  but  it  is  not  designed 
to  convince  any  one  in  the  house  ;  it  is  a  political  pronun- 
ciamento,  and  its  purpose  is  to  influence  the  government, 
the  speaker's  own  constituents,  or  public  opinion  in  general. 
In  the  Latin  countries,  exceptions  to  this  generalisation  may 
occur  from  time  to  time ;  and  they  may  even  happen  in 
Germany  in  periods  of  great  excitement,  when  emotion 
overpowers  reason.  But  if  parliament  does  not  consult 
or  deliberate,  if  it  is  merely  a  place  where  speeches  are 
made  and  votes  are  cast,  how  is  parliamentary  work  effected  ? 
By  three  semi-official  organisations  :  the  political  party  ; 
the  parliamentary  group ;  and  the  caucuses.  Where 
parliamentary  government  is  in  full  force,  the  powers  of 
government  are  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  leading 
permanent  committee  known  as  the  cabinet.  Where  semi- 
parliamentary  government  obtains,  the  caucuses  negotiate 
with  the  government  and  with  one  another,  except  in  so 
far  as  the  business  is  settled  by  personal  consultation  among 
the  party  chiefs. 

It  follows  that  parliament  is  not  an  institution  for  the 
solidarised  representation  of  the  people,  or  a  deliberative 
council  of  the  nation.  It  is  a  party  exchange,  this  term 
being  understood  as  implying,  not  a  place  for  the  bartering 
of  individual  material  interests,  but  a  clearing  house  for 
the  adjustment  of  such  general  interests  as  can  secure 
effective  expression. 

Those  among  the  members  of  parliament  who  do  not 
play  any  notable  part  in  one  or  other  of  the  before-mentioned 
semi-official  organisations,  are  supernumeraries,  except  for 
occasional  speeches,  and  for  interventions  on  behalf  ot 
some  local  need  of  their  constituencies.  In  many  ot  the 
Latin  countries,  the  member  of  parliament  can  turn  his 
position  to  account  from  a  business  point  of  view.  He  may 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    253 

be  a  genuine  amateur ;  often  he  cooperates  with  some 
committee  or  society  established  to  voice  a  private  grievance, 
and  in  that  case,  animated  by  ideal  motives  but  exercising 
all  the  pressure  he  can  command,  he  worries  the  authorities 
in  the  hope  of  furthering  the  cause  he  has  at  heart.  The 
party  leaders  are  in  very  truth  agents  of  the  people,  or,  to 
be  precise,  agents  of  the  party  to  which  they  belong.  Their 
number  is  greater  and  their  powers  are  more  extensive  in 
proportion  as  more  comprehensive  duties  are  entrusted  to 
them  by  the  state. 

Though  at  the  first  glance  this  picture  of  parliament  may 
seem  strange,  closer  examination  will  show  that  it  is  sub- 
stantially reasonable.  If  we  dare  to  look  realities  in  the 
face,  we  shall  draw  the  conclusions  which  enable  the  parlia- 
mentary apparatus  to  be  transformed  from  a  necessary  evil 
into  a  fruitful  organism  capable  of  further  development. 
We  must  therefore  for  a  brief  space  devote  ourselves  to  the 
problem  of  necessity. 

Independently  of  the  ideal  concept  of  the  people's  state, 
a  hierarchy  of  officials  (and  the  normal  government  is  nothing 
more)  cannot,  if  left  entirely  to  its  own  resources,  remain 
permanently  viable.  The  comparison  with  the  army  is 
inapplicable  in  this  instance.  The  duties  imposed  upon  the 
army  are  far  simpler  and  far  more  continuous  ;  the  army 
has  an  incomparably  greater  and  more  rapidly  renewed 
aggregate  of  responsible  energies  ;  and  the  army  has  ever 
before  its  eyes,  as  a  standard  of  comparison,  the  attainments 
of  the  practically  identical  institutions  in  other  lands.  The 
achievements  of  a  government,  on  the  other  hand,  can  be 
compared  with  those  of  foreign  governments  only  when 
terminal  results  have  been  achieved,  not  while  the  work 
is  still  in  progress. 

In  earlier  days,  when  the  administration  of  a  kingdom 
was  not,  qualitatively  and  quantitatively,  something  in- 
comparably greater  and  more  complex  than  the  administra- 
tion of  a  large  private  estate,  a  patriarchal  monarch  could 
supervise  the  whole  country,  and  could  j  udge  if  all  were  going 
well  by  the  occasional  close  inspection  of  this  fraction  or 
that  ;  he  could  take  the  measure  of  all  the  instruments  of 
government ;  and  in  a  simple  testament  he  could  bequeath 
the  principles  of  thrift,  incorruptibility,  and  energy.  To-day 


254     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

a  single  department  like  that  of  telegraphs  or  public  health 
is  as  comprehensive  in  its  demands  as  was  the  entire  state 
administration  during  the  reign  of  Frederic  the  Great.  A 
ruler  of  first-class  ability  who  should  attempt  to  make 
acquaintance  with  the  most  vital  administrative  processes, 
would  be  overwhelmed  by  the  multiplicity  of  facts,  even  if 
he  should  merely  aim  at  exercising  the  semblance  of  control. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  government  entirely  freed  from  outside 
control,  if  it  did  not  perish  of  in-and-in  breeding,  would  not 
only  undergo  ossification  to  become  a  China,  but  further 
would  be  hopelessly  incompetent  in  face  of  a  developed 
economic  system  and  a  developed  public  opinion. 

But  the  ultimate  and  independent  control  can  be  no 
better  exercised  by  a  senate  or  a  tribunal  than  by  an 
individual,  since  neither  of  these  bodies  has  independent 
mobility.  Nor  is  any  class  corporation  suitable,  for  here 
material  and  professional  interests  dominate.  In  earlier 
centuries,  the  church  possessed  the  requisite  independent 
power ;  but  to-day  we  can  look  only  to  the  people. 

Here,  however,  difficulties  arise.  A  crowd  can  neither 
rule  nor  deliberate.  We  cannot  expect  intellectual  decision 
from  a  crowd,  but  only  the  sketch  of  a  general  will.  Even 
the  idea  of  the  election  of  confidential  agents,  which  finds 
a  place  in  municipal  affairs,  fails  us  where  the  state  is 
concerned.  A  central  power  cannot  depend  upon  local 
confidential  agents ;  it  needs  politicians  and  statesmen. 
The  electorate  is  incompetent  to  judge  of  the  capacity  of 
such  persons,  but  it  is  competent  to  estimate  the  worth  of  a 
party  programme  with  which  it  is  familiar  and  which  it  is 
able  to  understand.  Once  more  we  encounter  the  paradox 
of  our  electoral  systems,  which  create  and  will  party  elections, 
whilst  they  prescribe  local  elections.  We  shall  return  to 
this  matter.  For  the  moment  the  decisive  point  is  that 
out  of  the  atomistic  voluntary  elements  of  election  a  popular 
representation  arises,  but  not  a  body  with  capacity  for 
work,  control,  or  government. 

The  assignment  of  powers  fails  us.  It  must  be  replaced 
or  supplemented  by  a  different  system,  that  of  a  political 
party,  and  from  this  we  pass  to  political  chiefs. 

A  political  party  is  the  assemblage  of  a  definite  portion 
of  the  people.  Its  members  are  persons  of  the  same  way  of 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    255 

thinking.  They  are  materially  circumscribed,  and  they 
exhibit  a  unified  will.  Thus  they  constitute  a  people  within 
the  people.  In  principalities,  provinces,  districts,  and  towns, 
a  crystallisation  of  local  communal  interests  may  occur,  and 
these  interests  may  indirectly  become  matters  of  state 
policy ;  but  state  policy  as  a  whole  does  not  consist  of  the 
aggregate  of  local  interests.  The  political  party,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  a  direct  relationship  to  the  centralised  will 
of  the  nation  ;  and  since  it  is  made  up  of  local  groups,  it 
can  represent  local  interests  without  being  based  upon  them. 
The  party  is  organisable,  self-dependent,  constituted  for 
the  permanent  interchange  of  ideas  and  for  continuous 
work  ;  it  is  therefore  perfectly  competent  to  manage  its 
instruments  and  to  regulate  its  individual  energies. 

Quietly,  therefore,  and  regardless  of  the  wording  of 
written  constitutions,  there  has  come  into  existence  the 
intermediate  organism  which  makes  the  giant  nations  of 
our  days  competent  to  exercise  will.  This  independently 
originating  structure  is  a  healthy  organic  growth,  and  conse- 
quently there  is  no  opposition  between  it  and  the  demands 
of  the  people's  state.  Thus  when  we  described  the  essential 
mechanism  of  popular  representation  as  the  market-place, 
as  the  political  exchange,  of  the  parties,  there  was  nothing 
derogatory  in  this  conception.  The  metaphor  serves  to 
give  us  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  concrete  reality. 

The  more  definitely  we  grasp  the  nature  of  this  reality, 
the  better  do  we  understand  the  true  significance  of  the 
representative  assemblies  of  our  day,  in  so  far  as  these  have 
developed  along  sound  lines.  In  the  political  party  we  have 
an  arithmetical  image  of  the  popular  will,  an  image  which, 
though  sectional,  is  closer  to  the  thing  it  represents  than 
the  arithmetical  image  furnished  by  parliaments.  Thus 
the  political  parties  form  the  dynamic  substratum  of  parlia- 
ment ;  they  are  the  props  through  which  parliament  is 
sustained  by  the  people.  It  would  almost  suffice  if  at  every 
general  election  a  pictorial  representation  of  the  relative 
strength  of  the  parties  were  to  be  hung  up  in  the  parliament 
house,  and  if  each  leader's  vote  and  influence  were  to 
correspond  to  the  proved  numerical  strength  of  his  party. 
But  the  strange  and  at  times  unedifying  parliamentary 
apparatus  is  essential  because  parliament  serves — or  should 


256    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

serve — as  a  means  for  selecting  and  training  statesmen  and 
politicians. 

In  countries  where  complete  parliamentary  government 
prevails,  these  essential  characteristics  of  the  political  party 
are  more  fully  developed,  both  for  good  and  for  ill,  than  is 
the  case  in  Germany — although  it  does  not  seem  as  if,  even 
in  those  countries,  the  nature  of  the  phenomenon  were  clearly 
understood.  Where  parliamentary  government  prevails, 
the  dynamic  process  is  more  lively.  Often  this  proves 
disadvantageous,  inasmuch  as  it  is  apt  to  lead  to  frequent 
changes  of  government  quite  independently  of  changes  in 
public  opinion ;  the  conduct  of  public  affairs  being 
consequently  disturbed.  But  in  proportion  to  the  average 
mental  capacity  displayed  in  such  countries,  as  compared 
with  ours,  the  process  of  selection  and  training  is  enormously 
more  effective,  for  on  a  less  fertile  soil  the  crops  that  are 
harvested  are  more  abundant  and  often  of  better  quality. 

In  this  connection  we  are  enabled  to  understand  why 
the  German  parliaments,  and  especially  the  Reichstag,  are 
so  unpopular,  why  they  lack  substance,  why  they  are  so 
ineffective.  The  local  electoral  act  is  intimidating.  The 
sharking  up  of  an  absolute  majority  in  a  constituency  which 
may  have  no  definite  political  views,  presupposes  methods 
that  are  not  always  purely  political.  If  there  is  a  failure  by 
so  much  as  one  vote  to  secure  the  requisite  majority,  tens 
of  thousands  of  votes  have  been  fruitlessly  registered,  and 
a  large  minority  (perhaps  consisting  of  highly  intellectual 
persons)  remains  unrepresented.  Local  magnates  have  an 
unfair  advantage.  In  many  instances  the  electors  are 
influenced  by  promises  which  by  no  means  correspond  to 
the  candidate's  real  desires  or  intentions.  In  these  circum- 
stances, the  aspirants  to  parliamentary  honours  will  often 
be  persons  who  do  not  shine  in  respect  either  of  intelligence 
or  of  character. 

German  political  parties,  if  we  except  the  socialists  and 
the  agrarians,  are  poorly  organised  and  equipped.  Whereas 
the  whole  working  and  thinking  intelligence  of  the  nation 
should  discuss  the  destiny  of  the  state,  the  actual  discussion 
of  these  matters,  in  clubs  and  public  meetings,  is  left  to 
amateur  and  professional  politicians,  and  to  the  ordinary 
newspaper  readers.  What  we  need  is  that  the  best  political 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    257 

forces  of  the  nation  should  be  in  continuous  contact  with 
friends  and  mandatories ;  what  we  need  is  that  stump 
oratory  and  carping  criticism  should  be  replaced  by  loyal 
collaboration  for  the  common  good. 

Now  let  us  turn  to  the  other  side  of  the  picture.  We  have 
shown  why  the  best  energies  of  the  nation  are  withdrawn 
from  politics,  so  that  our  representative  assemblies  lack 
insight  and  power.  When  we  come  to  examine  the  position 
of  the  Reichstag  and  to  study  its  methods,  we  understand 
why  this  assembly  repels  persons  of  exceptional  mental 
strength. 

Not  everyone  can  find  sufficient  compensation  for  a 
whole  year's  work  in  sitting  upon  half-empty  benches,  in 
carrying  out  the  decisions  of  parliamentary  groups,  in 
listening  to  stump  speeches,  varied  at  times  by  the  thrilling 
interest  of  discussing  the  building  of  a  light  railway,  or  some 
such  subject  as  goat-tending.  The  demand  for  group  leaders 
and  members  of  committees  is  easily  satisfied.  The  country 
is  weary  of  parliament,  and  many  a  member  of  the  Reichstag 
must  have  asked  himself  with  a  shrug,  "  What's  the  good  of 
it  all  ?  " 

Where  parliamentary  government  is  in  force,  every 
member  of  parliament  feels  that  he  has  a  portfolio  in  his 
pocket,  and  sometimes  looks  for  less  commendable  opportuni- 
ties of  gratifying  his  ambition.  Such  motives  may  be  ignoble, 
but  they  are  powerful.  Bismarck  had  good  reason  for  speak- 
ing scornfully  of  the  Reichstag  when  the  creature  of  his  own 
hands  waxed  rebellious.  Often  enough,  the  lower  house  has 
given  cause  for  hostile  criticism  ;  rarely  indeed  has  it  proved 
itself  a  deliverer  in  word  and  deed.  It  has  not  shown  itself 
endowed  with  creative  energy ;  yet  nothing  but  creative 
activity  will  attract  the  powerful  spirits  of  the  nation.  In 
addition,  we  have  certain  natural  antipathies  of  the  Germans. 
Our  people  are  repelled  by  the  orator  and  the  propagandist ; 
they  do  not  feel  sure  of  their  ground  in  political  matters, 
and  they  are  always  rendered  impatient  when  promises 
remain  unfulfilled,  whereas  they  have  a  healthy  feeling 
for  human  qualities.  Finally,  the  Germans  have  before 
their  eyes  the  honest  achievements  of  the  government, 
which  are  manifestly  proof  against  all  the  dialectic  of  the 
critics. 

17 


258     IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

If  the  political  life  of  the  country  is  to  be  placed  upon  a 
satisfactory  basis  (quite  apart  from  the  demand  for  a  people's 
state),  extensive  reforms  of  German  parliamentarism  are 
absolutely  essential. 

The  first  need  is  that  the  existing  method  of  local  elections 
should  be  replaced  by  a  properly  designed  system  of  pro- 
portional representation.  This  particular  electoral  reform 
is  more  important  than  all  others,  not  excepting  the  reform 
of  the  franchise  in  Prussia  and  in  Mecklenburg. 

The  second  need  is  that  political  parties  should  be  re- 
organised. 

The  third  essential  is  that  the  German  parliaments  should 
be  given  a  positive  function  over  and  above  that  of  law- 
botching  and  roting  of  supply  ;  that  they  should  be  granted 
the  possibility  of  creative  work.  This  does  not  signify  an 
unqualified  demand  for  parliamentary  government,  a  system 
that  is  in  itself  neither  good  nor  bad,  though  every  normal 
German  to-day  shivers  at  the  thought  of  it.  If  the  true 
significance  of  popular  representation  be  to  act  as  a  corrective 
to  the  system  of  official  hierarchy,  and  to  furnish  a  school 
for  politicians  and  statesmen,  it  follows  that  we  must  not 
allow  attendance  at  the  school  to  be  regarded  as  an  end  in 
itself  by  the  pupil,  nor  must  we  cherish  a  hope  for  critical 
and  dialectical  successes  and  for  the  tolerated  influence  of  a 
group-leader  upon  the  government.  We  should  trust  too 
much  in  the  capacity  of  normal  natures  for  ideal  self- 
renunciation  were  we  to  expect  talented  and  vigorous  men, 
placed  in  control  of  important  governmental  departments,  to 
content  themselves  with  the  role  of  ill-informed  observers,  and 
then  to  express  their  approval.  Such  men  would  insist  upon 
active  intervention.  Moreover,  the  mood  consequent  upon 
this  attitude  is  in  itself  harmful ;  it  is  apt  to  induce  grumbling 
pessimism,  and  to  effect  the  atrophy  of  the  last  vestiges  of 
joy  in  creation  which  had  remained  to  a  government  subject 
to  excessive  control.  But  above  all,  the  statesman  who 
has  been  trained  only  as  critic  knows  nothing  of  essentials. 
He  has  learned  parliamentary  methods  and  legislative 
formalities,  but  has  never  acquired  responsibility  as  a  doer, 
a  discoverer,  and  a  creator.  In  ultimate  analysis,  a  man 
cannot  pass  judgment  upon  things  he  does  not  know  from 
the  inside,  upon  things  he  is  not  himself  able  to  do.  No  one 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     259 

can  be  a  statesman  unless  he  bears  or  has  borne  creative 
responsibility.  One  who  practises  only  on  a  dumb  piano 
will  never  become  a  pianist.  An  irresponsible  critic  forgets 
his  own  weaknesses,  and  grows  impotent  because  he  regards 
himself  as  infallible.  A  man's  occupation  neither  raises 
him  nor  lowers  him  ;  but  it  draws  him  onwards  whenever 
the  man  and  the  occupation  are  well  suited  to  one  another. 
Once  more  we  are  moving  in  a  circle.  The  occupations  of 
the  members  of  the  German  parliaments  cannot  create  true 
statesmen ;  those  who  sit  in  these  parliaments  have  no 
power  to  strive  for  ultimate  aims  ;  the  inadequacy  of  the 
function  repels  competent  and  responsible  combatants ; 
hence  there  is  no  training  ground  for  statesmen — and  so  it 
goes  on. 

Upon  the  people,  whose  representation  is  secured  through 
the  incomplete  organisation  of  wills  which  passes  by  the 
name  of  political  party,  the  effect  of  the  above-described 
state  of  affairs  is  to  dull  the  political  understanding.  If 
party  leaders  were  to  return  to  their  constituents  after  an 
experience  of  genuine  responsibility ;  did  they  but  possess 
a  knowledge  of  inner  incidents,  motives,  and  inhibitive 
influences  ;  had  they  acquired  the  power  of  discriminating 
what  is  realisable  and  desirable  from  what  is  chimerical  and 
dangerous ;  were  but  the  actors  on  the  European  stage 
personally  known  to  them  and  understood  by  them — then 
party  discussions  would  be  withdrawn  from  the  prejudiced 
and  petty  atmosphere  of  bourgeois  politics,  and  would  acquire 
a  practical  value.  If,  in  addition,  the  leading  party  politicians 
were  enabled  and  from  time  to  time  compelled  to  enter 
positions  in  which  they  would  have  new  and  active  re- 
sponsibilities, this  reform  would  not  merely  afford  a  guarantee 
against  sterile  interference  with  state  policy,  but  a  con- 
ception of  party  responsibility  would  come  into  being,  and 
this  would  have  a  moderating  and  stabilising  effect.  Under 
the  aegis  of  this  party  responsibility,  there  would  arise  some- 
thing of  inestimable  value,  something  whose  importance 
will  have  to  be  considered  later,  namely,  an  aggregate  con- 
ception of  the  genuine  transmissible,  carefully  considered, 
real  and  ideal  aims  of  home  policy  and  still  more  of  foreign 
policy.  Thus  in  place  of  colourless  and  verbose  party 
programmes  which  are  differently  interpreted  from  day  to 


260    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

day,  our  political  life  will  acquire  what  it  needs  more  than 
anything  else,  stability.     The  lack  of  stability,  and  the  danger 
of  unconsidered  and  unanticipated  action,  which  are  both 
dependent    on    the   sudden   adoption   of   obscure   and   ill- 
considered  aims — these  things,  in  conjunction  with  almost 
overwhelming  military  power,  a  feudalist  atmosphere,  and 
the  unstinted  docility  of  our  nation — comprise  the  group 
of  conditions  to  which  our  enemies  have  given  the  inapt 
name  of  militarism.     It  would  be  beneath  our  dignity  to 
be  guided  by  the  arbitrary  judgments  of  our  foes  ;    never- 
theless it  comports  with  the  highest  dignity  of  man  to  examine 
every  criticism,  to  purge  it  from  injustice,  and  to  make  it 
instinct  with  meaning,  even  when  the  criticism  is  hostile. 
There  is  no  need  for  the  unrestricted  acceptance  of  a 
complete  system  of  parliamentary  government,  from  which 
so  many  sections  of  the  nation  recoil,  including  the  interested 
representatives  of  feudalism,  the  beneficiaries  of  stable  and 
mobile  capital,  the  professors  and  officials,  the  politicians  who 
are  not  sure  of  themselves,  and  other  sections  of  the  cultured 
classes  which    are    influenced    by  these    various   elements. 
The  arguments  adduced  against  this  system  are,   indeed, 
beside  the  point.     The  disintegration  of  the  political  parties 
would  be  a  favourable,  not  an  unfavourable  result,  for  this 
would  render  it  necessary  to  establish  coalition  governments, 
and   these   would   involve   continuous   compromises   which 
would  lead  to  the  ascendency  of  the  established  principles  of 
government.     Since  our  political  temperament  is  compara- 
tively  cold,    variations   of   mood   and   ministerial   changes 
would  be  less  frequent  and  less  violent  in  Germany  than  in 
other  lands.     The  experience  of  local  government  in  this 
country  shows  that  there  is  little  occasion  to  dread  corruption 
and  the  venal  pursuit  of  personal  interests.     On  the  other 
hand,  if  anything  like  the  same  sort  of  relationship  between 
electors  and  elected  as  that  which  obtains  under  parliamentary 
government  elsewhere  were  established  in  Germany,  then 
the  methods  of  political  selection  would  give  us  statesmen 
of   an   intelligence   altogether   beyond  expectation.     Above 
all  it  is  necessary  to  refute  a  trite  academic  argument,  to  the 
effect  that  Germany's  perilous  geographical  position  renders 
it  indispensable  for  us  to  retain  a  more  or  less  rigidly  con- 
servative system  of  government.     The  very  reverse  is  true, 


THE      WAY       OF       THE      WILL    261 

for  the  dangers  of  our  position  impose  the  need  for  great 
mobility  and  suppleness,  for  a  system  in  which  there  will 
be  an  extremely  efficient  selection  of  energies.  Precisely 
because  of  the  aforesaid  dangers,  we  must  have,  in  contrast 
to  political  dogmatism,  the  capacity  for  straining  every 
nerve  and  for  temporary  opportunism.  The  counterpoise 
to  the  perils  threatening  us  from  without  will  be  found,  not 
in  fragility,  but  in  elasticity. 

Nevertheless,  we  do  not  need  unrestricted  parliamentary 
government.  What  we  need  is  that  parliaments  and  poli- 
ticians should  be  trained  in  the  school  of  reality,  responsibility, 
and  power  ;  that  the  political  parties  should  be  educated 
towards  genuine  work,  towards  continuity  of  political  aims  ; 
that  the  people  should  be  disciplined  in  political  life  and 
in  self-determination.  The  possibilities  of  realisation  are 
manifold  and  simple.  No  written  law  is  requisite.  The 
easiest  beginning  (which  would  be  difficult  enough  in  view 
of  the  prevailing  somnolence  and  sloth)  would  be  for  the 
parliaments  to  demand  that  some  of  the  ministerial  posts 
should  be  filled  by  members  of  parliament.  The  most 
obvious  and  the  most  utterly  impracticable  of  beginnings 
would  be  to  have  recourse  to  our  universal  expedient  in  a 
difficulty,  the  appointment  of  commissions.  Parliamentary 
committees,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  entrusted  with  ill-defined, 
meddlesome,  and  irresponsible  powers,  to  watch  the  work 
of  the  official  departments,  so  that  the  self-respect  and 
creative  joy  of  these  departments  would  be  hopelessly 
perturbed  by  demands  for  information,  by  the  need  for 
justifying  their  actions  and  for  resisting  impracticable 
proposals.  What  is  the  use  of  people  who  spend  their 
whole  lives  criticising  others,  and  will  never  do  a  hand's 
turn  of  work  themselves  ? 

We  have  several  times  foreshadowed  the  closing  portion 
of  our  exposition,  explaining  that  it  was  to  deal  with  the 
essential  idea  of  the  future  of  political  life  in  Germany,  and 
to  elucidate  the  interconnections  of  that  political  life  with 
the  essence  of  the  people's  state.  As  a  sign  that  we  have 
now  reached  the  inmost  sphere  of  practical  life  to  which  the 
course  of  supreme  intuition  has  guided  us  (a  sphere  where 
we  shall  have  to  tarry  for  a  season,  not  as  those  tarry  who 


262     IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

have  attained  their  goal,  but  to  gather  forces  for  the  next 
stage  and  to  consolidate  the  positions  for  a  new  advance), 
henceforward  our  outlook  will  be  predominantly  utilitarian. 
For  in  this  sphere,  advance  towards  the  ultimate,  if  it  is  to 
remain  practically  realisable,  must  simultaneously  be  advance 
towards  something  of  temporal  value.  Now  the  idea  of 
the  power  and  stability  of  the  state  has  been  shown  to  possess 
such  a  practical  and  utilitarian  value. 

According  to  the  law  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  and 
according  to  the  image  of  every  individual  life  and  of  all 
collective  life,  the  state  per  se  is  defenceless,  and  in  the 
conflict  with  its  competitors  its  sole  guardian  is  its  own 
genius. 

Its  heritage  consists  in  the  fertility  of  its  soil,  in  its 
geographical  situation,  and  in  its  people.  These  data  are 
finite,  just  as  the  temporal  heritage  of  a  human  being,  an 
animal,  a  herd,  or  a  forest,  is  finite  ;  finite  likewise  are  the 
fundamental  possessions  of  its  opponents.  Infinite,  however, 
is  the  relation  of  the  effect,  for  this  is  indefinitely  multiplied 
by  the  power  of  the  spiritual. 

Indeed,  this  power  is  competent  to  modify  physical 
conditions.  It  can  increase  tenfold  the  yield  of  the  soil ; 
it  can  rob  the  earth  of  its  treasures  ;  it  can  master  the  forces 
of  nature  ;  can  shape  coastlines  and  tracts  of  land  and  water  ; 
it  can  cure  sickness,  fortify  the  blood,  form  and  perfect  unborn 
generations.  Out  of  material  masses,  this  power  can  create 
organisms,  endowing  them  with  senses,  with  energies  of 
thought  and  will,  and  with  efficient  limbs.  In  the  struggle 
for  life  this  power  intervenes  with  threefold  force  :  externally 
with  fixity  of  trend  and  with  impulsive  energy ;  internally 
with  the  power  of  resistance. 

When  two  organisms  of  equal  strength  are  at  war,  victory 
is  achieved  by  that  one  of  the  two  which  knows  best  what 
it  wants.  Strength,  privilege,  and  invulnerability  grow 
out  of  inconspicuous  seeds,  uncoveted  and  mobile.  The 
oak  tree  of  a  thousand  years,  which  no  human  power  can 
move  by  as  much  as  an  inch,  sprang  from  an  acorn  which 
slipped  from  the  hand  of  a  child ;  the  direction  of  a  mighty 
stream  was  determined  at  the  source  by  a  pebble  in  the 
path  ;  an  overseas  empire  may  arise  because  of  an  error  in 
navigation  ;  a  race  of  nobles  may  spring  from  the  intoxication 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     263 

of  a  noble  progenitor  ;  a  girl's  whim  may  decide  the  fate  of 
dynasties.  Time  and  persistency  of  trend  unite  to  form  a 
power  which  nothing  can  withstand.  Every  second,  new 
germs  of  the  imperishable  are  scattered  ;  from  moment  to 
moment  the  destinies  of  the  millenniums  are  being  sown,  and 
the  enduring  direction  of  the  will  decides  which  seed  shall 
germinate.  But  the  best  way  to  ruin  all  chances  of  germina- 
tion is  continually  to  retrample  the  same  ground,  repeatedly 
to  break  up  the  clods,  and  without  choice  or  forethought  to 
plant  ever  and  again  new  seeds.  A  great  man  of  action  is 
an  unwearying  sower,  content  that  others  should  reap  the 
harvest.  He  who  to-day  earnestly  promotes  that  which 
will  be  realised  to  good  effect  in  one,  in  ten,  or  in  a  hundred 
years,  creates  freely  and  without  hindrance.  To-day  people 
may  smile  at  him,  but  will  not  interfere  ;  later  he  will  be 
misunderstood  and  ingratitude  will  be  his  reward ;  but  he 
fashions  as  a  master  whom  none  can  control.  The  most 
real  of  all  creation  is  that  effected  by  the  seer,  provided  that 
the  vision  of  his  forecasting  be  not  a  nebulous  phantom 
fashioned  out  of  uncontrolled  emotions,  but  something  that 
will  ultimately  be  realised  in  tangible  form.  The  vision  of 
the  true  seer  is  a  vision  of  reality,  reality  intuited,  and 
permeated  with  spirit ;  his  dreams  are  solidified  by  the 
energy  of  will,  and  are  safely  anchored  to  the  earth.  This 
is  the  secret  of  all  production. 

Vigorous  creation  is  rendered  impossible  by  restriction 
to  the  aims  of  the  day.  He  who  seeks  immediate  success ; 
he  who  would  delight  his  contemporaries  with  spectacles  of 
greatness,  and  who  revels  in  historic  moments  ;  he  who  day 
by  day  would  dig  up  the  seed  to  learn  how  it  is  growing ; 
he  who  grudges  every  new  event  as  something  which  wastes 
his  time,  instead  of  using  the  best  forces  of  that  event  to 
help  in  the  realisation  of  his  distant  aims  ;  he  who  drudges 
at  the  daily  task,  who  balks  at  obstacles,  who  settles  things 
out  of  hand  instead  of  searching  for  the  best  way — such  a 
one  can  at  most  defend  a  position  and  temporarily  avert 
collapse.  He  cannot  create  life  and  growth,  for  everything 
in  nature  perishes  when  it  is  forced  to  assume  the  defensive. 
Freedom  from  care  in  the  highest  sense ;  freedom  from  all 
personal  wishes  or  pressure ;  superabundance  of  energy 
finding  expression  in  humour  and  in  spiritual  sovereignty : 


264       IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

such  are  the  conditions  requisite  for  the  fixity  of  political 
trend. 

Who  realises  these  conditions  in  our  state  system  ? 
Though  there  were  an  unending  succession  of  monarchs, 
Caesar  and  Charles,  Frederick  and  Bonaparte,  this  would 
not  suffice  to  constrain  a  dynasty  to  the  performance  of  the 
requisite  duty.  The  stability  of  dynastic  policy  is  largely 
determined  by  the  need  for  the  defence  of  the  dynast's 
own  position.  It  is  influenced  by  the  perilous  fluctuations 
in  the  relationships  with  kindred  and  friends.  As  Bismarck 
has  told  us,  it  is  influenced  by  women  and  favourites,  and 
by  the  alluring  possibilities  of  territorial  expansion.  Still 
less  can  we  expect  political  stability  from  our  irresponsible 
parliaments.  These,  as  we  have  seen,  have  no  concerns 
beyond  the  daily  tasks  of  criticism  and  law-botching.  They 
lack  cohesion  ;  they  break  up  into  hostile  groups  ;  these 
groups  unfurl  colourless  party  flags  which  are  hardly 
distinguishable  one  from  another,  and  under  such  emblems 
they  work  on  behalf  of  petty  economic  interests. 

There  remain  for  consideration  the  various  types  of 
minister  of  state.  They  possess  certain  advantages  in  that 
they  exhibit  an  identity  of  political  convictions  in  the  sense 
of  a  considerable  degree  of  traditional  continuity.  But 
whatever  they  are,  they  are  and  must  be  upon  the  foundation 
of  that  official  conservatism,  and  in  that  atmosphere  of 
feudalism  and  professordom  of  which  we  have  previously 
spoken.  It  matters  not  whether,  prior  to  their  appointment, 
their  trends  have  been  liberal  or  Catholic,  they  seize  the  first 
opportunity  of  demonstrating  normality  in  political  matters, 
for  if  they  failed  to  give  such  a  demonstration  they  could 
hardly  continue  to  exist  for  many  weeks  in  a  hostile 
atmosphere. 

This  conformity  in  the  general  political  outlook  of  the 
ministers  does  not,  however,  suffice  to  secure  for  long  periods 
of  time  an  effective^conformity  in  home  and  foreign  policy. 
All  the  other  presuppositions  are  negative.  It  matters  not 
if  the  average  ministerial  career  be  extended  from  five  years 
to  ten  ;  that  career  is  either  too  long  or  too  short.  Too 
long  when  a  man  has  transmitted  to  the  state  spirit  the 
totality  of  his  life's  thought,  and  henceforward  is  nothing 
more  than  a  routinist ;  too  short  when  an  entire  generation 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     265 

is  to  be  encompassed  with  far-reaching  plans.  What  creative 
artist  will  content  himself  with  beginnings  which  his  successor, 
amid  a  chorus  of  approval  from  subordinates,  will  thrust 
aside  with  a  smile  ;  or  which  his  successor,  having  modified 
them  till  they  are  unrecognisable,  will  develop  as  his  own  ? 
Even  if  a  minister  were  willing  to  make  such  a  sacrifice,  how 
would  it  be  possible  ?  Daily  needs  are  pressing,  and  he 
has  to  defend  his  policy  from  attack  on  three  or  four  sides 
at  once.  Above  him  the  monarch  has  the  last  word  ;  beneath 
him  parliament  makes  its  decisions ;  on  one  side  he  is 
threatened  by  public  opinion  ;  perhaps  on  the  other  side 
he  is  menaced  by  the  foreign  world.  It  is  almost  a  miracle 
if  he  can  steer  any  course  amid  these  shoals,  and  it  would  be 
asking  too  much  of  him  that  in  addition  he  should  aim  at 
the  absolute.  Want  of  time  imposes  further  restrictions 
upon  his  freedom  of  action.  Half  the  year  is  spent  in 
parliamentary  work  ;  in  the  search  for  proofs,  justifications, 
and  materials  ;  in  bargaining  with  committees  and  with 
the  leaders  of  a  parliament  which  is  indefatigable  in  criticism, 
which  is  unused  to  the  presuppositions  of  creative  work, 
which  has  no  coherent  will  but  only  a  number  of  discrete 
impulses,  which  is  fractious  when  its  suggestions  are  dis- 
regarded but  does  not  feel  itself  bound  to  help  when  they 
are  accepted. 

The  life  of  our  state  lacks  the  organ  which  could  ensure 
fixity  of  trend.  While  the  constancy  of  such  a  force  is  lacking, 
while  our  goals  are  chosen  in  accordance  with  the  fancy  of 
the  day  and  not  in  accordance  with  the  experience  of  the 
generations  and  the  centuries,  in  all  that  we  do  we  are  at 
the  mercy  of  any  prize-fighter  who  may  see  a  little  farther 
than  the  rest  and  may  have  a  little  more  consistency  of 
purpose.  In  the  struggle  for  life  among  the  nations,  we  are 
inadequately  equipped  for  the  competition.  The  alarming 
inefficiency  of  our  foreign  policy,  despite  an  enormous 
expenditure  of  labour  and  money,  is  largely  due  to  uncertainty 
of  aim  For  decades,  while  we  have  been  firmly  convinced 
that  our  intentions  were  peaceful,  upright,  and  innocent, 
our  neighbours  have  regarded  us  with  unprecedented  and 
almost  incredible  suspicion.  This  attitude  of  theirs  depends 
upon  the  uncertainty  of  our  policy,  which  is  incomprehensible 
because  of  its  vacillations,  and  suspect  because  of  its  incom- 


266     IN        DAYS        TO         COME 

prehensibility.  States  where  parliamentarism  is  absolutely 
uncontrolled  where  resolves  seem  aimless,  where  changes  of 
government  are  incessant,  have,  notwithstanding  an  apparent 
disconnectedness  of  will,  excelled  us  in  fixity  of  trend  ;  for 
even  a  one-sided,  phantastic,  and  fanatical  trend  achieves 
its  purpose  if  it  do  but  remain  stable. 

No  artificial  organ  can  provide  the  state  with  this 
permanent  fixity  of  trend.  It  cannot  be  supplied  by  the 
departments  of  state,  by  committees,  senates,  or  parliaments 
Nor  can  the  dynasty  fulfil  this  purpose.  Least  of  all  can 
the  requisite  consistency  of  aim  be  supplied  by  the  pro- 
fessorial caste  which  would  not  exist  if  its  members  had 
been  born  for  action  instead  of  contemplation.  The  people 
alone  can  inspire  such  a  trend ;  not  as  a  dominant  mob, 
nor  yet  as  a  mass,  but  as  the  womb  of  the  spirit  out  of  which 
the  times  bring  forth  fruit ;  the  politically  ripened  and 
thoughtful  people,  whose  spirit  has  been  embodied  in  parties  ; 
these  parties  represented  by  their  organisations,  and  above 
all  by  their  leaders,  statesmen,  and  thinkers. 

We  must  be  careful  not  to  measure  the  foregoing  ideas 
by  the  lamentable  inefficiency  of  our  existing  party  system. 
So  long  as  political  parties  existed  merely  for  such  narrow 
purposes  as  the  raising  or  lowering  of  specific  duties,  taxes, 
or  wages,  for  the  maintenance  or  abolition  of  particular 
privileges,  tor  defending  or  attacking  particular  classes  or 
persons  ;  so  long  as  they  were  organisations  decked  out  with 
phraseological  ideals  in  whose  realisation  no  one  believed ; 
so  long  as  they  were  organisations  consisting  of  interested 
persons  and  the  furnishers  of  funds,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  dilettantists,  pothouse  orators,  and  camp-followers,  on 
the  other  ;  so  long  as  the  political  life  of  the  nation  attained 
its  climax  in  the  conflict  of  interests  which  found  expression 
in  law-botching,  while  the  crown  of  a  political  career  was 
to  become  a  successful  platform  speaker  or  a  professional 
party  chief ;  so  long  as  the  people  was  content  to  shun 
responsibility  and  to  leave  its  destinies  in  the  hands  of  a 
ruling  caste,  failing  to  recognise  the  community  and  unity  of 
its  own  ultimate  aims  and  intoxicated  by  the  struggle  of 
the  interests — so  long  also  was  the  people's  state  impossible 
of  attainment ;  so  long  also  was  every  objective  expression 
of  the  collective  will  illusory ;  so  long  also  was  the  political 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     267 

life  of  the  nation  incapable  of  rising  to  higher  levels  than 
those  of  the  district  club  and  of  the  gymnastic  society.  The 
war  has  shown  that  a  higher  life  is  possible  ;  the  coming 
need  will  show  that  it  can  endure. 

Some  years  ago,  in  fear  and  concern,  I  drew  attention 
to  the  coming  of  this  need  and  longed  to  avert  it,  but  in  the 
medley  of  money-getting  and  enjoyment  my  voice  fell  on 
deaf  ears.  Henceforward  and  evermore  it  will  be  plain  to 
us  that  however  much  we  may  be  rent  asunder  by  differences 
of  opinion,  we  are  all  members  of  one  household,  that  it 
devolves  upon  ourselves  and  upon  none  other  to  defend  and 
to  care  for  our  goods  and  our  blood.  Never  again  must 
interest  and  money-getting  occupy  the  first  place  in  our 
minds,  nation  and  state  the  second,  and  God  (on  Sunday 
only)  the  third  ;  never  again  must  our  fate  fall  into  the 
hands  of  a  moneyed  caste  and  our  household  into  the  hands 
of  pothouse  politicians ;  for  if  this  should  happen  it  would 
be  time  for  the  Germans  to  set  out  on  a  new  migration. 
Need,  in  the  last  resort,  can  and  will  compel  us  to  develop 
a  political  sense,  can  invigorate  us  to  become  a  people's  state. 

In  no  domain  will  this  invigoration  work  more  relentlessly 
than  in  the  reform  of  party  life.  The  capable  and  the  strong 
who  have  hitherto,  breathlessly  harnessed  to  their  work, 
served  power,  wealth,  spiritual  creation,  contemplation ; 
who  have  looked  upon  the  state  as  something  foreign  to 
themselves,  to  be  left  to  the  care  of  professional  experts  as 
one  leaves  a  gasworks,  a  church,  or  a  theatre  ;  who  have 
rarely  troubled  themselves  about  state  concerns,  and  who 
whenever  they  have  done  so  for  a  moment  have  turned  back 
to  their  own  work  shrugging  their  shoulders  because  things 
were  done  so  badly  and  were  nevertheless  done  somehow  or 
other — these  men  will  at  length  be  inspired  with  the  will 
to  intervene  and  will  feel  that  it  is  their  duty  to  intervene ; 
not,  indeed,  with  the  easily  satisfied  ambition  of  the  party 
lion  making  an  after-dinner  speech,  but  with  the  will  to  action. 
They  will  throw  into  the  scales  all  their  possessions  and  their 
powers,  and  will  thus  outweigh  the  political  bosses.  Political 
life,  ceasing  to  be  the  sport  of  daily  interests  and  minor 
concerns,  will  become  the  organisation  of  the  will  of  the 
body  politic. 

The  facile  critic  will  say  that  there  is  a  hopeless  divergence 


268     IN        DAYS        TO         COME 

of  opinions  and  wills  in  Germany,  and  that  consequently 
no  definite  and  voluntary  trend  can  spontaneously  emerge 
from  the  confusion  ;  for  this  reason,  they  will  affirm,  we 
must  be  taught  and  guided  by  a  hereditary  caste  of  shepherds. 
A  destructive  inhibition  can  never  result  from  an  overplus 
of  varieties  and  shades  of  tendency,  so  long  as  all  these 
tendencies  are  positive,  in  that  they  lead  towards  self- 
preservation  and  growth.  A  resultant  of  forces  issues,  not 
merely  from  two  components,  but  from  any  number ;  and 
it  will  issue  all  the  more  surely  the  more  notable  the  com- 
plexity of  the  components.  The  only  force  which  is  utterly 
vacillating  and  unreliable  is  that  which  arises  solely  out  of 
ephemeral  influences  ;  the  traveller  who  follows  his  own 
shadow  from  dawn  till  eve,  wanders  in  a  circle.  If  a  nation 
whose  internal  inhibitions  have  been  overcome  by  organisa- 
tion, nevertheless  lack  power  to  discover  a  path  through 
the  world  under  the  guidance  of  its  own  inner  impulses, 
its  history  is  finished,  and  it  deserves  no  better  fate  than 
to  be  an  instrument  of  alien  wills.  Let  me  again  remind 
the  reader  that  when  I  speak  of  the  will  of  a  nation,  I  do 
not  mean  the  crude  physical  caprice  which  decides  some 
matter  of  the  day,  nor  do  I  mean  the  fugitive  emotion  which 
stirs  a  crowd  in  the  street ;  I  mean  the  organically  distilled 
essence  of  the  strongest  forces  of  the  nation,  that  which 
concentrates  and  spiritualises  all  the  volitions  of  the  body 
politic.  My  will  and  my  action  are  not  determined  by  the 
transient  fatigue,  hunger,  or  inertia  of  my  physical  frame, 
but  by  the  spiritual  core  of  my  being. 

Precisely  because  we  lack  fixity  of  trend,  did  it  come  to 
pass  that  Bismarck's  heritage — a  solidly  constructed  state, 
the  arbiter  of  Europe,  old-fashioned  in  many  respects,  but 
equipped  with  overwhelming  military  power — could  be 
developed  by  us  neither  outwardly  nor  inwardly.  For  this 
reason  it  came  to  pass  that  we  allowed  the  hegemony  to  be 
snatched  from  Germany  by  foreign  leagues  which  we  tolerated 
and  even  furthered  ;  that  in  the  partition  of  the  previously 
unallotted  portions  of  the  world,  Germany  received  no  share  ; 
that  an  utter  lack  of  policy,  which  no  one  accredited  to  us, 
and  an  ill-humour  which  was  obvious  to  all,  made  us  uni- 
versally suspect ;  that  our  body  politic  put  on  the  layers 
of  fat  the  growth  of  which  was  promoted  by  the  one-sided 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    269 

development  of  technical  skill  and  finance,  and  which  the 
war  was  to  sweat  off 

Even  worse  have  been  the  consequences  of  the  want 
both  of  impulsive  energy,  and  of  trustworthy  leaders.  All 
action  and  all  negotiation  proved  a  failure,  every  resolve 
ended  in  a  compromise.  Out  of  a  vast  number  of  suggestions, 
not  one  could  grow  to  objective  greatness  ;  the  problems 
were  merely  mooted,  to  be  dismissed  with  a  headshake. 
This  country,  whose  roots  were  so  healthy  that  it  had  for- 
gotten the  feeling  of  being  in  a  false  position,  had  to  relearn 
the  meaning  of  embarrassment.  Its  living  force  was  frittered 
away  in  personal  frictions,  was  wasted  in  overcoming  the 
inertias  and  constraints  of  individual  relationships.  The 
assignment  of  responsibilities  began  with  perplexity  and 
ended  with  disillusionment.  To  be  carried  away  by  any 
powerful  will  and  any  rash  fancy,  smacked  of  the  romantic 
past.  Instead  of  devoting  themselves  to  organic  work, 
people  were  on  the  watch  for  reputedly  historic  moments  ; 
they  posed  for  future  historiographers  ;  they  indulged  in 
monumental  oratory — all  this  being  a  fit  accompaniment 
to  the  bombastic  architectural  products  of  a  money-getting 
age. 

Fixity  of  trend  and  impulsive  energy  are  the  two  most 
important  weapons  in  the  struggle  for  existence  among  the 
nations.  They  are  the  concern  of  the  peoples.  Neither 
reigning  families  nor  castes  can  provide  these  essentials,  for 
one  of  the  rules  of  the  struggle  is  that  all  the  available  powers 
of  a  nation  should  be  utilised,  including  all  its  forces  of  spirit 
and  of  will.  Fixity  of  trend  arises  as  the  distillate  of  all 
possible  thoughts  ;  impulsive  energy  arises  as  the  essence 
of  all  conceivable  manifestations  of  human  genius.  If  we 
restrict  the  possible  sources  of  supply  to  a  narrow  circle  of 
a  few  hundred  or  thousand  souls,  we  deliberately  impoverish 
the  spirit  and  the  will  of  a  nation,  and  that  nation  will  perish 
as  soon  as  its  neighbours  stake  the  whole  wealth  of  their 
possessions  against  it.  A  people  numbering  many  millions 
is  metaphysically  compelled,  at  all  times  and  in  all  spheres 
of  activity,  to  generate  a  vigorous  trend  of  will  and  a  complex 
of  its  highest  talents.  Should  it  fail  to  do  this,  or  should 
these  forces  be  diverted  to  the  pursuit  of  gain,  mechanical 
precision,  or  ease,  or,  finally,  should  these  powers  be  lacking 


270     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

owing  to  political  indolence  and  an  inadequate  sense  of 
responsibility,  then  this  people  has  passed  its  own  death 
sentence. 

Before  we  turn  to  consider  the  conditions  of  the  impulsive 
energy  which  must,  as  we  have  seen,  be  the  resultant  of  the 
spontaneous  selection  of  all  the  powers  and  talents  of  the 
spirit  and  the  will,  we  must  study  the  intellectual  form  of 
the  politically  effective  spirit. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  governmental  work  was  still 
purely  administrative.  In  one  place  only,  the  supreme 
position  where  the  royal  authority  was  operative,  was  there 
need  for  initiative,  resource,  and  creative  resolve.  The 
prevailing  absolutism,  known  in  German  history  as  cabinet 
government,  was  an  organic  not  an  arbitrary  expression  of 
this  relationship.  In  peace  no  less  than  in  war,  the 
administration  was  subservient  to  the  supreme  estate 
represented  by  the  patriarchal  ruler,  this  method  of  govern- 
ment being  a  magnified  copy  of  the  patriarchal  administration 
of  the  lesser  landed  properties. 

Considered  in  its  simplicity,  administration  is  work  in 
the  primitive,  unmechanised  sense  of  that  term,  like  agricul- 
ture and  the  older  kinds  of  handicraft ;  with  the  authority 
of  patriarchal  care  superadded.  It  is  characterised  by 
tradition. 

Rules  and  aims  are  agreed  upon ;  local  and  human 
relationships  are  constants.  Every  problem  has  been  stated  ; 
every  solution  is  discoverable.  Even  rare  occurrences  can 
be  mastered  by  experience  ;  that  is  why  we  esteem  old  age. 
The  elder  is  well  informed,  and  is  rarely  mistaken  ;  the 
youth  is  inexperienced,  and  must  be  broken  in  by  experience. 
Land  and  people,  the  objects  of  administration,  are  sub- 
missive objects.  The  countryman  and  the  manual  worker 
will  never  venture  to  set  up  their  opinions  against  the  opinion 
of  the  administrator,  for  the  former  are  aware  of  the 
limitations  imposed  upon  their  minds  by  the  traditional 
character  of  their  occupations,  and  the  thorny  field  of  strange 
and  new  resolve  is  remote  from  the  sphere  of  their  lives. 

But  in  that  sphere,  all  sorts  of  happenings  recur :  birth, 
life,  and  death ;  seedtime  and  harvest ;  prosperity  anc 
rising  prices ;  conflagration  and  drought ;  war  and  pestilence 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    271 

crime  and  punishment.  A  new  building,  a  royal  progress, 
the  coming  of  a  menagerie  or  a  conjuror,  even  a  journey,  are 
great  and  rare  incidents.  Commoner  experiences  are  law- 
suits, tumults,  callings-up  for  military  service,  market  brawls. 
Every  one  knows  what  is  going  to  happen  next ;  work  is 
easy ;  and  there  is  plenty  of  time.  All  that  such  people 
ask  of  the  administration  is  that  it  should  be  incorruptible, 
experienced,  and  open-eyed.  Unique  occurrences  take  place 
far  above  the  heads  of  rulers  and  ruled.  Decisions  concerning 
war  and  peace,  conquest  and  reform,  the  church,  the  law- 
courts,  the  taxes,  the  building  of  roads,  colonisation,  come 
from  above — if  not  from  heaven,  from  the  king. 

The  spiritual  conditions  of  the  art  of  administration  are 
personal  authority,  self-confidence,  fidelity,  and  experience ; 
its  roots  are  a  traditional  knowledge  of  moods  and  practices. 
These  qualities  are  those  possessed  by  the  old  territorial 
nobility.  Resourcefulness,  imagination,  creative  energy, 
desire  for  innovation,  are  alien  to  the  thought  of  these 
circles ;  when  encountered  here,  they  mislead  towards 
rebellion,  philoneism,  and  foolhardiness.  We  have  a  fine 
example  of  this  natural  conflict  in  the  friction  between  the 
young  and  impetuous  Bismarck  and  the  members  of  his 
narrow,  bucolic  environment. 

The  new  world  of  mechanisation  arrived,  transforming 
all  work  into  struggle  and  thought.  Technical  improvements, 
expansion  of  trade,  competition,  trod  on  one  another's  heels  ; 
that  which  had  been  accepted  practice  one  day  was  super- 
annuated the  next ;  that  which  had  seemed  impossible 
yesterday,  is  realised  to-day,  and  will  be  forgotten  to-morrow. 
Experience  no  longer  counts.  Nay,  worse  than  this,  it  is 
dangerous,  for  the  experienced  man  tends  to  be  a  routinist. 
Every  situation  is  new ;  every  decision  is  unprecedented ; 
the  goal  of  activity  is  shifted  from  the  present  into  the 
future.  Victory  is  not  to  those  who  look  backwards  but 
to  those  who  look  forwards.  In  the  struggle,  rhythm  and 
acceleration  are  determined  by  our  hostile  competitors, 
tradition  must  be  discarded  and  intuition  must  take  its  place. 

The  true  significance  of  the  Napoleonic  storm  is  that 
in  that  storm,  for  the  first  time,  mechanised  thought,  thought 
which  ran  counter  to  experience,  emerged  from  the  work- 
shops and  the  laboratories  to  gain  control  of  political  life. 


272     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

It  mastered,  not  only  the  directive  and  promethean  central 
powers  of  the  state,  which  had  never  been  subjected  to 
tradition,  but  it  likewise  mastered  all  the  accessory  and 
subordinate  branches  of  political  life,  technical,  financial, 
and  administrative.  Assailed  by  this  explosive  force, 
traditional  Europe  collapsed,  and  could  not  regain  stability 
until  it  had  acquired  at  least  the  primary  elements  of  the 
new  methods  of  thought  and  action.  As  late  as  the  autumn 
of  1813,  the  Allies  remained  for  months  encamped  upon  the 
Rhine,  because  in  a  text-book  of  the  history  of  war  they  read 
that  a  river  was  an  entrenchment,  and  because  the  book 
declared  that  behind  an  entrenchment  armies  must  collect 
their  energies  and  gather  forces  for  a  fresh  advance. 

Tradition  was  the  basis  of  the  old  art  of  government. 
The  driving  force  of  modern  politics  is  the  talent  which 
creates  the  organiser,  the  entrepreneur,  the  coloniser,  and 
the  conqueror.  Its  characteristic  is  the  power  of  imagin- 
atively realising  that  which  does  not  yet  exist ;  the  talent 
for  the  unconscious  imaginative  reconstruction  and  experience 
of  the  organic  world  ;  the  emotional  gift  which  enables  sur^ 
persons  to  appraise  incommensurable  effects  and  motives  ; 
the  faculty  whereby  they  can  originate  the  future  within 
their  own  minds.  They  work  through  realist  imagination, 
energy  of  resolve,  daring,  and  that  combination  of  scepticism 
and  optimism  which  seems  absurd  and  even  repulsive  to 
persons  of  simple  nature,  and  which  has  rendered  all  masters 
of  statecraft  unpopular  during  their  lifetime. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  German  language  should 
have  no  name  for  this  complex  of  energies.  I  shall  employ 
the  expression  "  aptitude  for  business "  (Geschdftskunst}, 
a  compound  teim  in  which  the  primary  significance  of  the 
word  Geschaft  is  perceptible,  since  Geschaft  is  derived  from 
schaffen  (creation). 

The  caste  of  the  landowning  nobility,  which,  with  its 
offshoots,  hangers-on,  and  imitators,  is  responsible  for 
government  in  Prussia,  is  to-day  just  as  it  was  in  the  time 
of  Frederick  the  Great  the  undisputed  master  of  the  traditional 
art  of  administration,  whether  upon  private  domains  or  in 
the  service  of  the  state.  Integrity  and  idealism,  justice  and 
distinction,  fidelity  and  a  high  sense  of  duty,  courage  and 
virility,  serve  to-day  as  of  old  to  make  this  caste  one  of  tho 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL    273 

noblest  of  its  kind  in  history.  Neither  in  the  past  nor  in 
the  present  can  we  find  the  equal  of  the  Prussian  subaltern. 
The  Prussian  Landrat,  as  administrative  head  of  a  district, 
occupies  an  office  which  from  the  theoretical  outlook  is 
superfluous  ;  nevertheless,  by  his  superlative  qualities,  he 
has  made  of  this  office  a  political  institution  of  supreme 
and  almost  indispensable  importance. 

Our  officials  of  noble  birth  are  highly  skilled,  not  merely 
in  the  conduct  of  administration,  but  in  the  fuller  develop- 
ment of  administrative  work.  Overcoming  their  inborn 
misoneism,  they  avail  themselves  of  the  most  recent  scientific 
and  technical  methods,  even  when  these  are  of  foreign  origin. 
But  for  such  developmental  advances  to  be  possible,  the 
Prussian  official  must  be  granted  time  and  familiarisation, 
seeing  that  he  is  naturally  averse  to  the  role  ol  improviser. 

The  full  tale  of  his  virtues  has  now  been  told.  The 
Prussian  official  has  no  fondness  for  the  unique  or  the  novel. 
It  is  not  his  forte  to  act  on  his  own  initiative,  to  force  his 
way  ruthlessly  by  intuitive  insight  out  of  a  complicated 
and  perchance  embarrassing  situation,  to  create  new  relation- 
ships and  new  things,  to  prepare  for  coming  events.  Here, 
indeed,  a  manifest  hindrance  is  encountered.  His  activities 
are  so  thoroughly  permeated  with  the  political  conceptions 
of  an  unquestioning  conservatism,  that  his  every  judgment 
of  an  objective  situation  is  complicated  by  his  perception 
of  the  subjective  political  aim,  and  his  possibilities  of  choice 
are  thereby  restricted.  He  finds  it  extraordinarily  difficult 
to  put  himself  in  another's  place,  and  this  makes  him 
inefficient  as  a  negotiator  or  a  coloniser.  He  cannot  see 
into  the  distance  or  into  the  future.  He  has  no  yearning 
for  the  infinite,  and  those  who  lack  such  a  yearning  have 
but  a  jejune  vision  of  the  realisable.  It  is  no  chance  matter 
that,  with  the  exception  of  one  man  who  was  not  of  unmixed 
noble  blood,  Prussia  has  not  since  the  death  of  Frederick 
the  Great  produced  a  single  European  statesman. 

It  is  currently  declared  that  the  war  has  demonstrated 
the  supreme  capacity  of  Prussians  for  organisation.  True 
enough  that  the  organisation  of  the  army,  the  railways,  and 
the  Central  Bank  proved  equal  to  all  demands.  But  the 
things  which  had  to  be  newly  created  and  improvised, 
unforeseen  contrivances  (wherefore  unforeseen  ?),  were,  in 

18 


274    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

so  far  as  they  showed  themselves  viable,  not  the  work  of 
the  state. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  problem  of  impulsive  energy 
Selection  of  the  traditional  capacity  for  administration 
does  not  suffice.  We  need  selection  of  absolute  capacity  for 
statecraft,  with  definite  reference  to  the  demand  for  "  aptitude 
for  business  "  in  the  sense  previously  defined.  The  caste 
to  which,  hitherto,  political  responsibility  has  exclusively 
been  assigned,  is  not  merely  too  small  in  its  ratio  of  five 
thousand  to  a  population  of  fifty-six  millions.  In  addition, 
the  members  of  that  caste  are  not  the  most  capable  persons 
who  could  be  found  for  the  discharge  of  duties  that  lie 
beyond  the  field  of  traditional  administration. 

There  is  no  force  in  the  objection  that  the  calling  in  of 
outsiders  has  hitherto  proved  an  inadequate  remedy.  As 
long  as  there  still  prevails  the  atmosphere  to  which  repeated 
references  have  been  made,  the  intruder  will  as  a  rule  display 
four  conspicuous  traits.  He  will  be  a  man  whose  success 
in  his  previous  career  has  been  dubious,  and  who  is  therefore 
glad  of  a  change.  Organically  he  will  be  similar  to  his 
new  colleagues,  to  whom  he  will  therefore  be  a  persona 
grata.  He  will  display  a  fixed  inclination  towards  mercantile 
methods  of  thought  and  expression,  which  are  regarded  as 
a  sign  of  profundity,  and  which  lead  people  to  expect  new 
things  from  him.  He  will  manifest  a  readiness  to  make 
indispensable  concessions,  which  are  necessary  in  his  new 
career,  but  which  diminish  the  prospects  of  a  successful 
experiment. 

In  the  leading  western  lands,  during  the  long  per'od  in 
which  parliamentary  government  has  been  in  force,  efficient 
methods  of  selection  have  spontaneously  arisen.  This  has 
occurred  without  any  legislative  action  for  the  purpose, 
and  almost  without  entering  the  political  consciousness  of 
the  nations,  which  have  taken  such  a  development  as  a 
matter  of  course.  The  methods  in  question  have  always 
eluded  our  scientific  study,  for  the  problem  of  political 
selection  has  never  been  seriously  considered  in  Germany. 
It  will  not  here  be  discussed  in  detail.  Enough  to  say  that 
the  methods  are  all  rooted  in  parliamentary  life.  In  England, 
they  take  the  form  of  deliberate  choice,  and  the  training 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     275 

of  leaders  within  the  parties  ;  in  France,  the  foundation 
is  parliamentary  and  journalistic  experience  ;  in  the  United 
States,  the  foundation  is  plutocratic  and  demagogic.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  imitate  the  English  method.  In  England 
the  budding  party  leader  is  recognisable  among  his  fellow 
pupils  as  possessed  of  exceptional  bodily  and  mental  qualities. 
A  minister  takes  him  up,  and,  quite  outside  any  hierarchical 
career,  makes  of  him  a  private  secretary  and  assistant.  He 
is  passed  through  the  finer  and  yet  finer  sieves  of  parliament- 
ary election,  parliamentary  practice,  and  an  experimental 
test  of  higher  responsibility.  In  so  far  as  he  proves  his 
capacity,  he  secures  experience,  knowledge  of  men  and 
things,  influence,  and  office.  It  is  maintained  that  in 
England  no  political  talent  remains  undiscovered,  and  that 
no  political  talent  that  has  been  discovered  is  ever  left 
unutilised. 

Upon  the  stage  of  the  most  recent  history,  France  made 
its  appearance  tottering  and  crushed,  so  weak  and  so  pro- 
foundly humiliated  that  its  envoy  adjured  the  German 
emperor,  of  his  chivalry,  to  grant  peace.  Thanks  to  French 
statecraft,  France  has  been  enabled  during  the  space  of 
forty  years,  while  Germany  was  losing  the  hegemony  of 
Europe,  to  regain  its  old  powers  of  offence  and  defence, 
to  win  three  colonial  empires,  and  to  enter  into  the  strongest 
alliances  in  Europe — alliances  which  in  contrast  with  two 
of  ours  have  stood  the  test  of  war.  A  country  which  has 
had  to  summon  financiers  and  industrial  managers  from 
the  foreign  world,  because  no  sufficient  supply  of  native 
forces  and  talents  was  available,  was  nevertheless  able  by 
appropriate  methods  of  selection  and  unwearied  effort  to 
satisfy  its  measureless  demand  for  and  consumption  of  states- 
men. It  was  able  in  addition  to  accumulate  such  abundant 
reserves,  that  for  every  new  task,  whether  in  organisation, 
finance,  diplomacy,  or  parliamentary  life,  there  were  forth- 
coming men  of  every  possible  complexion — whereas  in 
Germany  many  a  man  has  been  kept  in  office  simply  because 
there  was  no  possible  successor. 

If  we  compare  the  two  countries  in  respect  of  population, 
culture,  capacity,  level  of  civilisation,  and  talent,  it  seems 
very  probable  that  Germany,  did  there  exist  here  an 
automatic  method  of  selection,  would  be  able  to  excel 


276    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

France    many    times    over    in    the    supply    of  competent 
statesmen. 

We  have  no  such  selective  methods  ;  or  rather,  we  have 
methods  which  exercise  a  reversed  selection.  What  no 
board  of  directors,  no  trade-union  executive,  no  local  club, 
would  tolerate,  is  a  thing  which  Germany  practises  where 
the  highest  welfare  of  the  community  is  at  stake.  We 
confer  responsible  positions  without  taking  the  trouble  to 
convince  ourselves  that  we  are  giving  them  to  suitable 
incumbents. 

The   most   powerful   business   enterprise   in    the   world 
would  be  hopelessly  ruined  within  a  single  generation  if  it 
were  compelled  by  its  articles  of  association  to  choose  its 
responsible  leaders  from   a  circle  of  a  thousand  families. 
These  methods  do  not  suffice  for  the  spiritual  defence  of  the 
country  against  fierce  competition  both  without  and  within  ; 
they  do  not  suffice   for  a  task  which  involves   the   very 
existence   of   our   nation.     This   incomprehensible    can    be 
explained    only   by   another   incomprehensible.     The   ideas 
of  the  competitive  struggle,  of  organic  work,  and  of  natural 
endowments,  have  not  yet  penetrated  into  the  regions  where 
our  destiny  is  decided.     There,  where  so  much  is  inherited, 
people  believe  in  the  inspiration  of  office  ;   in  inborn  superi- 
ority over  the  masses  ;    in  history  as  it  is  written  on  the 
tables  of  history ;    where  line  after  line  the  most  salient 
episodes  are  recorded,  although  there  is  no  record  of  the 
immeasurable    labour    and    the   immeasurable    expenditure 
of    genius   which   lay   between   the  incidents    recorded   in 
the  lines.     The  history  of  the  world  runs  its  course  like  a 
feuilleton,  where  every  figure  that  is  introduced  plays  its 
part,  whilst  in  between  there  is  time  for  aperc.us,  harangues, 
and  state  proceedings.     Otherwise  the  accessory  phenomena 
would  remain  inexplicable.     How  remorseless  are  the  claims 
upon  the  time  of  state  officials,  and  not  least  on  the  part  of 
the    parliaments.     He    who   has    great    tasks    to    perform, 
requires  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  times  four-and-twenty 
hours  for  himself  and  his  work  ;    he  must  leave  to  others 
the  casting  up  of  accounts,   holidays,   and   the  laying  of 
foundation    stones.     The    anecdotal    conception    of   history 
has  perhaps  never  been  regarded  as  acceptable  more  than 
once  throughout  the  ages,  and  even  then  rather  in  the  eyes 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     277 

of  the  court  chronicler  than  in  reality.  I  think  of  the  brief 
acme  of  the  long  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  when  the  French  realm 
was  still  without  worthy  competitors. 

A  young  official  applies  for  an  appointment  in  the  diplo- 
matic service.  He  bears  a  noble  name,  is  wealthy,  has  a 
distinguished  appearance,  belongs  to  one  of  the  best  students' 
corps,  has  been  officer  in  a  crack  regiment,  and  is  known  to 
possess  sound  political  views.  He  has  the  additional  advant- 
age of  occupying  a  position  at  court.  It  is  difficult  to  refuse 
the  application  of  such  a  suitor,  who,  if  he  had  lost  his  property 
or  had  left  the  service,  would  very  likely  have  contented 
himself  with  making  a  living  by  selling  motor  cars.  It  is 
doubtless  possible  that  this  privileged  applicant  may  like- 
wise be  endowed  with  supreme  political  genius,  for  nature 
sometimes  bestows  her  gifts  with  a  lavish  hand.  Neverthe- 
less, the  cold  calculus  of  probabilities  pitilessly  maintains 
its  rights  in  the  long  run.  With  every  additional  qualifica- 
tion that  is  demanded,  the  already  small  number  of  suitable 
candidates  shrinks  enormously ;  and  since  many  of  the 
qualifications  that  are  exacted  are  not  really  relevant  to 
the  duties  which  have  to  be  performed,  the  ultimate  result 
is  that  the  welfare  and  existence  of  the  state  is  staked  upon 
a  very  few  cards  instead  of  on  all  the  available  energies  of 
the  nation. 

Invalid  is  the  customary  answer  to  this  criticism,  which 
is  to  point  to  a  certain  number  of  outsiders  occupying 
important  posts.  The  newcomers  who  are  assimilated  to 
the  dominant  atmosphere  probably  have  the  double  weak- 
nesses of  the  class  they  have  left  and  the  class  they  have 
joined.  Moreover,  they  grow  worse  instead  of  better  through 
having  to  overact  their  new  parts. 

We  have  seen  that  the  spiritual  raw  material  is  sifted 
in  accordance  with  false  principles  but  the  danger  increases 
in  the  subsequent  course  of  promotion.  The  ultimate  choice 
for  positions  of  great  responsibility  is  not  (as  in  the  case  of 
the  administrative  services  of  minor  importance)  a  matter 
of  progress  by  simple  seniority,  but  of  appointment  by  the 
supreme  authority.  The  idea  of  infallibility  which  underlies 
this  method  may  be  justified  in  exceptional  periods.  There 
have  at  times  been  dynasts  and  members  of  the  king's 
inner  council,  whose  knowledge  of  men  and  things  was  so 


278    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

transcendent  that  no  other  method  of  selection  could  be 
compared  to  the  success  of  their  intuitions.  But  the  institu- 
tions of  a  state  must  provide  for  the  work  of  centuries  ; 
if  the  system  is  liable  to  break-downs,  destruction  threatens. 
It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  take  into  account  the  possibility 
of  irrelevant  and  arbitrary  trends,  the  possibility  of  favourit- 
ism. We  need  hardly  say  that  in  such  epochs,  the  mere 
gifts  of  external  appearance,  an  entertaining  manner,  fitness 
for  court  life,  chance  services  and  encounters,  may  decide 
the  destinies  of  the  state. 

We  have  seen  that  the  significance  of  true  parliaments  lies 
in  this,  that  they  must  promote,  not  government  by  the 
masses,  but  the  spiritualisation  of  the  people,  the  sublimation 
of  the  national  thought  and  will.  As  well  as  possessing 
their  traditional  and  mechanical  quality  as  barometers  of 
the  interests,  they  must  in  days  to  come  serve  as  schools 
for  statesmen.  If  we  succeed,  as  we  shall  succeed,  in 
raising  parliaments  to  this  level,  they  will  be  enabled  to 
exercise  a  popular  regulative  influence  over  the  appointments 
to  responsible  posts.  It  is  not  absolutely  essential  that 
parliament  should  nominate  the  principal  ministers  of  state. 
But  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  parliament  should  have 
at  its  disposal  the  persons  of  supreme  gifts  who  are  fitted 
for  nomination  to  such  posts ;  and  it  is  essential  that  the 
parties  from  which  these  chiefs  are  drawn  should  give  the 
men  in  whom  they  have  confidence  such  unstinted  support 
that  all  necessary  changes  can  be  effected  in  the  bureaucratic 
structure  of  the  various  departments.  Neither  the  bureau- 
cracy nor  the  feudal  caste  will  suffer  from  parliamentary 
reform  and  regulation,  in  so  far  at  least  as  the  bureaucrats 
and  the  feudalists  are  fit  to  endure  competition.  They  will 
continue  to  offer  materials  from  which  a  selection  can  be 
made,  and  their  traditional  experience  and  knowledge  of 
affairs  will  be  valuable.  But  the  reform  of  parliament, 
which  must  advance  hand  in  hand  with  this  development, 
is  the  affair  of  the  nation.  As  we  have  seen,  the  nation 
must  help  by  the  creation  of  appropriate  electoral  systems, 
and  by  the  quickening  and  reorganisation  of  party  life — 
must  help  to  promote  the  fructification  of  the  perspicacious 
efforts  towards  reform  which  are  to-day  manifest  in  exalted 
circles. 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     279 

A  final  word  is  necessary  concerning  the  third  of  the 
political  forces  which  acts  as  coadjutor  to  the  other  two, 
fixity  of  trend  and  impulsive  energy,  giving  firmness  and 
stability  to  the  fighting  organism.  I  refer  to  the  power  of 
resistance. 

All  state  policy  is  a  permanent  test  of  strength.  War, 
the  last  intensification  of  policy,  is  a  test  applied  in  all 
departments,  physical,  psychical,  and  intellectual.  In 
normal  conditions,  the  test  is  enforced  until  every  field  of 
comparison  has  been  tried.  The  sitting  of  the  Reichstag 
on  August  4,  1914,  demonstrated  a  thing  which  our  inmost 
sentiments  had  already  revealed  to  us,  namely  that  in 
supreme  need  there  would  be  no  cleavage  in  our  nation. 
But  it  immediately  became  apparent  that  this  inner  unity 
was  not  a  consequence  of  our  institutions,  but  was  a  deliberate 
moral  victory  over  our  institutions.  Sections  of  the  people 
whose  rights  were  comparatively  small,  whose  convictions 
had  been  regarded  as  unsocial,  and  who  had  been  freely 
stigmatised  as  anti-patriotic  and  traitorous,  took  up  arms 
on  behalf  of  the  homeland  with  no  less  enthusiasm  than 
those  to  whom,  legally  and  economically,  this  homeland 
belonged.  To  everyone  who  feels  as  a  true  German,  this 
renunciation  will  seem  a  matter  of  course.  But  no  state 
can  be  upbuilded  upon  privilege  and  renunciation. 

Although,  in  this  section  of  our  study,  which  is  devoted 
to  immediately  practical  matters,  the  ideal  demand  for  the 
uplifting  of  the  hereditary  proletariat  has  been  thrust  into 
the  background,  nevertheless  the  construction  of  a  state 
out  of  ruling  and  ruled  sections  of  the  people  must  be  rejected 
even  upon  the  unemotional  ground  of  a  calculus  of  stability, 
for  such  a  state  is  in  a  condition  of  unstable  equilibrium. 
Inborn  and  deeply  rooted  is  the  idea  that  the  state  is 
the  sole  concern  of  privileged  specialists ;  that  it  is  the 
hereditary  hunting-ground  of  family  alliances,  party  groups, 
and  specific  philosophies  ;  that  it  is  a  despotic  and  detached 
entity,  thrusting  its  tentacular  arms  out  to  grasp  the  lives, 
rights,  and  possessions  of  individuals  ;  that  it  is  a  power 
to  which  obedience  is  rendered,  partly  perforce,  and  partly 
because  it  fulfils  certain  public  and  political  functions  with 
more  or  less  success.  We  are  brought  up  to  believe  that 
each  one  of  us  must  devote  himself  to  his  civic  occupation, 


280    IN        DAYS        TO        COME 

be  it  money-getting,  the  discharge  of  official  duty,  or  the 
performance  of  intellectual  labour  ;  that  we  must  rarely 
turn  our  gaze  towards  what  is  done  by  the  privileged 
authorities  ;  that  we  must  renounce  the  inclination  towards 
presumptuous  and  ignorant  criticism  ;  that  our  critical  part 
in  public  affairs  is  adequately  discharged  by  the  occasional 
casting  of  a  vote  into  an  electoral  urn,  a  vote  which  is  lost 
among  millions  of  others.  Impressed  with  such  notions  as 
these,  we  are  hardly  capable  of  regarding  the  state  as  res 
publica,  as  the  common  cause,  as  the  joint  expression  of  our 
earthly  wills.  We  lack  standards  of  comparison.  All  that 
history  and  the  surrounding  world  can  offer  us  in  the  way 
of  such  standards,  has  the  aspect  of  caricature,  distorted 
by  an  exaggeration  of  faults ;  for  the  very  few  who  direct 
our  attention  to  such  comparisons  are  professors,  travelling 
merchants,  and  journalists,  are  persons  whose  minds  run 
in  a  groove. 

We  do  not  hesitate  to  exclude  from  participation  in 
official  life  that  moiety  of  the  people  which  regards  our 
social  and  economic  forms  as  a  system  of  hostile  coercion. 
We  are  not  afraid  to  restrict  them  to  agitation  and  parlia- 
mentary criticism.  We  believe  ourselves  entitled,  from 
the  altitude  of  our  loftier  knowledge,  to  make  of  them  the 
objects  of  legislative  repression,  and  even  the  objects  of 
religious  and  educational  patronage.  We  fail  to  recognise 
how  disintegrating  are  the  influences  engendered  by  the 
relentless  control  of  a  dispossessed  and  expanding  intelli- 
gentsia by  a  possessing  and  restrictive  intelligentsia. 

We  consider  it  perfectly  right  that  an  authoritative 
government  should  pursue  a  rigidly  partisan  policy,  in 
virtue  of  which  class  controls  class,  and  a  group  controls 
the  masses.  We  term  this  policy  conservative ;  we  say 
that  it  conduces  to  the  maintenance  of  the  state.  But 
what  is  it,  in  organic  life,  which  conduces  to  permanent 
maintenance  ?  Only  organic  life  itself,  which  renews  itself 
out  of  itself ;  not  its  temporary  and  individual  forms.  That 
which  ostensibly  maintains  itself,  conceals  a  principle  hostile 
to  life,  a  principle  making  for  retardation  and  senility.  Still 
worse  is  it  that  every  policy  which  is  not  the  policy  of  all, 
but  a  party  policy,  must  in  perpetuity  serve  at  least  two 
masters,  its  objective  aim,  and  its  secret  partisan  conviction. 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     281 

It  remains  unfree,  detached  from  genuine  reality  ;  and  it 
will  be  overthrown  in  the  long  run  by  any  counter-policy 
which  is  free  from  coercion  and  independent  in  the  choice 
of  means. 

For  the  last  two  years,  people  have  been  endeavouring 
to  discover  the  metaphysical  foundation  of  our  destiny 
as  the  outcome  of  the  world  war.  It  is  this  and  no  other, 
that  a  policy  without  steadfastness  and  without  success 
had  failed  to  convince  the  German  people  that  it  was  its 
duty  to  shoulder  the  responsibility  for  its  own  life  and  its 
own  fate.  The  people,  entirely  immersed  in  the  pursuit 
of  infinite  riches,  thinking  only  of  business  affairs  and 
technical  improvements,  had  been  content  with  murmuring 
sleepy  protests  about  the  defects  of  some  of  the  departments 
of  state,  and  had  refrained  from  any  attempt  to  realise  the 
fundamental  errors,  whose  outward  symptoms  were  regarded 
as  chance  matters,  as  things  of  secondary  importance. 
Everyone  was  more  concerned  to  secure  a  few  years  of 
personal  success  than  to  consider  the  needs  of  the  com- 
munity, which,  they  held,  for  good  or  for  ill  could  be  left 
to  look  after  itself.  In  those  days,  I  repeatedly  drew  attention 
in  word  and  writing  to  the  menacing  inner  logic  which, 
independently  of  the  casual  happenings  of  political  life, 
indicated  the  approach  of  the  fateful  hour.  In  the  popular 
mind  the  causes  of  the  war  are  still  misconceived,  for  it  is 
attributed  to  what  are  no  more  than  the  minor  determinants. 
But  the  war  had  to  come,  in  order  that  the  needs  of  the 
community  might  direct  our  attention  to  communal  re- 
sponsibility and  communal  solidarity. 

Serving  natures  exhibit  a  fine  virtue.  They  devote  their 
lives  and  possessions,  not  to  mankind,  but  to  another,  the 
master.  They  merge  themselves  in  his  house  and  occupation, 
in  his  destiny  and  character  ;  and  in  due  time  this  sentiment 
of  fidelity  is  transmitted  to  posterity  Such  an  existence 
is  good.  It  may  be  truly  honourable,  for  every  complete 
human  relationship,  be  it  creative  or  be  it  serviceable,  is 
an  end  in  itself.  This  is  the  fate  of  one  who  cannot  be 
master,  to  whom  there  has  been  allotted  no  house  of  his  own, 
no  impulse  towards  freedom,  no  individually  fulfilled  life 
and  activity.  But  it  is  not  decreed  for  the  German  nation 
that  it  should  live  in  a  political  system  which  is  not  in  every 


282     IN        DAYS         TO         COME 

sense  its  own  ;  it  is  not  decreed  that  that  nation  should 
accept  a  fate  assigned  to  it  by  a  hereditary  caste,  or  that 
it  should  maintain  institutions  which  endow  individuals 
with  special  privileges.  This  nation,  the  most  original 
that  has  ever  existed,  must  bear  witness  to  its  own  will  and 
its  own  duties. 

If  it  is  ever  to  be  possible  to  unite,  and  to  maintain  in 
a  single  state  structure,  the  iridescent  individualisms,  the 
fruitful  contrasts  of  natures  and  interests,  with  which  our 
land  abounds,  it  will  be  essential  that  vigorous  nerves  and 
arteries  should  connect  all  the  mental  and  bodily  limbs 
with  the  central  organ  of  decision.  Then  only  will  it  be 
possible  to  achieve  a  balance  of  rights  and  duties,  and  to 
awaken  the  free  energies  of  the  nation.  We  have  enumerated 
the  ways  by  which  this  goal  can  be  reached.  To  recapitulate, 
they  are :  the  reform  of  political  and  parliamentary  life ; 
the  selection  of  the  most  competent ;  the  collaboration  of 
the  more  intelligent  members  of  the  community  in  adminis- 
trative and  political  work.  To  promote  the  state's  power 
of  resistance,  the  most  essential  thing  would  appear  to  be 
the  release  of  the  internal  tensions  which  to-day  make  the 
whole  structure  brittle  and  fragile.  The  only  efficient 
structure  is  a  properly  organised  one,  whose  parts  are  inter- 
connected by  healthy  and  well-arranged  sinews.  Upon 
this  organism  rests  all  the  burden  of  foreign  pressure  and  of 
self-defence,  for  every  healthy  element  desires  to  participate 
in  the  joint  effort  of  self-preservation,  and  every  such  element 
makes  itself  responsible  for  the  body  and  contributes  its 
strength  to  the  body's  means.  Upon  it.  secure  and  protected, 
the  monarchy  sits  enthroned,  uplifted  above  the  clash  of 
partisan  wills,  and  joyfully  upborne,  because  in  the  monarchy 
alone  is  incorporated  the  common  weal  unaffected  by  personal 
wishes,  and  because  everyone  who  contemplates  the  monarchy 
is  helped  to  become  conscious  of  unselfish  justice,  of  enlight- 
ened zeal  for  the  service  of  all.  Upon  it  rests  the  greatest 
of  political  goods,  the  effective  sense  of  the  state,  inasmuch 
as  no  one  feels  himself  to  be  excluded  from  participation 
in  the  fatherland  ;  inasmuch  as  no  one  who  devotes  himself 
to  the  service  of  the  community  suffers  from  the  secret 
feeling  that  he  is  serving  only  a  cunning  stratum  or  class  ; 
inasmuch  as  everyone  enjoys  a  sense  of  solidarity  and  co- 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     283 

operative  responsibility,  the  source  of  that  noble  pride  in 
state  and  monarchy  which  touches  us  from  afar  and  is 
unknown  to  countries  held  in  thrall. 

Thus  from  transient  and  political  considerations  we 
have  returned  to  the  people's  state,  which  loomed  before 
us  as  an  incorporation  of  absolute  and  ethical  ideas.  Within 
the  bonds  ot  space  and  time  we  have  traversed  the  domain 
of  our  own  immediate  conditions,  in  so  far  as  this  concerned 
our  heart.  We  have  not  done  so  as  a  main  portion  of  our 
task.  To  borrow  the  metaphor  in  the  legend  of  Antaeus, 
we  have  done  so  in  order  that  contact  with  the  soil  of  the 
homeland  might  reanimate  the  fighting  idea  with  the  force 
of  reality.  For  the  last  time  we  embrace  the  aggregate  picture 
of  our  social  existence  in  a  retrospective  glance  of  farewell. 

We  are  borne  along  by  the  mightiest  movement  which 
affects  mankind  on  this  planet,  the  mechanistic  movement. 
We  traced  its  beginnings,  thousands  of  years  ago,  in  well- 
watered  plains,  on  sea  coasts  and  in  river  basins,  where  the 
human  race  settled  down  and  population  grew  by  myriads — 
— in  Mesopotamia,  on  the  Nile,  around  the  Mediterranean, 
and  in  the  Far  East.  This  growth  of  population  continued 
unceasingly  on  three  continents  ;  the  forests  were  cleared, 
and  the  animal  realm  gave  ground.  The  striving  of  the 
individual,  the  horde,  the  tribe,  for  the  goods  of  nature  was 
unceasing  ;  the  victorious  campaign  of  mankind  against  the 
totality  of  natural  forces  had  begun. 

This  is  what  we  have  termed  mechanisation. 

We  live  in  the  era  of  mechanisation.  As  a  struggle  with 
the  forces  of  nature,  it  has  not  yet  attained  its  acme ;  but 
as  a  spiritual  epoch  it  has  passed  the  climax,  inasmuch  as 
it  has  become  self-conscious.  Physically  regarded,  it  is 
primevally  old,  seeing  that  it  is  an  animal  struggle  for  food, 
life,  and  happiness ;  metaphysically  regarded,  it  is  not 
terminal,  seeing  that  it  is  the  dominion  of  the  lower  spiritual 
force  of  the  intellect. 

Mechanisation  has  mastered  all  human  powers  all 
thought  and  all  action.  In  pursuit  of  its  own  mechanistic 
ends,  it  has  upbuilt  science  and  intellectual  philosophy  ;  for 
self-maintenance  it  exploits  technique,  trade,  organisation, 
and  politics. 


284     IN        DAYS         TO        COME 

All  practical  thought  has  assumed  mechanistic  forms. 
Without  exception  it  moves  within  the  confines  of  polarity, 
abstraction,  evolution,  law,  and  purpose  ;  without  exception 
it  operates  with  the  instruments  of  measurement  and  observa- 
tion. All  metaphysical  thought  has  involuntarily  adopted 
these  forms,  and  has  imitated  the  movements  of  the  purposive 
intellect.  Religion  itself,  sacrificing  its  primitive  transcen 
dentalism  to  the  needs  of  proximate  and  ultimate  material 
coordinations,  works  itself  out  in  the  mechanised  forms  of 
the  churches  and  of  organised  efforts  towards  edification 
and  salvation.  The  rare  voices  raised  throughout  the 
millenniums  from  India  and  Palestine,  issuing  premonitions 
from  Hellas,  and  springing  from  the  enthusiasts  of  medieval 
Germany,  making  their  way  here  and  there  through  the 
atmosphere  of  intellectual  thought,  have,  as  far  as  the 
general  consciousness  of  the  world  is  concerned,  given  rise 
to  nothing  more  than  precipitates  of  mechanised  compromise. 

Yet  thought  itself,  the  chained  titan  of  the  world, 
wrestles  for  freedom.  It  recognises  the  necessary  power  of 
mechanisation,  which  is  vested  in  the  physical,  and  it 
comprehends  how  poor  is  mechanisation  in  transcendental 
force.  It  perceives  the  intuitive  might  of  the  contemplative 
soul,  perceives  the  world-annulling  unity  of  that  soul,  and 
does  not  shrink  from  the  sacrifice  of  its  own  self.  Mechanisa- 
tion lies  unveiled  in  earthbound  impotence  It  has  sum- 
moned all  the  powers  of  the  planets  and  of  the  sun,  but 
only  to  create  new  masses  and  new  work.  It  has  chained 
all  mankind  to  a  common  task,  but  only  that  behind  the 
protective  shield  it  may  stimulate  men  to  intenser  mutual 
hostility.  It  has  coordinated  all  thought  and  all  action, 
but  only  to  drive  both  into  the  abyss  of  unreality 

The  unknown  earth  spirit  whom  we  had  served  has  now 
assumed  bodily  form  ;  soon  it  must  submit  to  the  seal  of 
Solomon  which  will  constrain  it  to  service.  Even  though 
mechanisation  performed  the  incredible,  by  arraying  our 
spiritual,  bodily,  and  social  selves  for  the  struggle  with 
nature,  nevertheless  mechanisation  was  incompetent  to 
explain  for  us  the  significance  of  this  struggle  or  to  master 
our  primal  impulses.  Indeed,  mechanisation  has  stimulated 
and  misapplied  to  the  utmost  these  impulses  of  fear,  greed, 
selfishness,  and  hate — everything  which  disintegrates  the 


THE      WAY      OF      THE      WILL     285 

everlasting  spirit  for  the  deception  of  the  ego  and  its 
dominion  The  forms  of  rapine,  wealth,  struggle,  and  slavery, 
have  been  befogged  and  eternalised  by  mechanism  as  nameless 
need.  As  allurement  and  menace,  mechanisation  granted 
us  deprivation  and  enjoyment,  the  cold  ideals  of  duty  and 
the  makeshifts  of  intellectual  philosophy,  the  heavenly 
reflection  of  our  earthly  hell,  or  nothing. 

The  sense  of  our  being  has  awakened  in  us  independently 
of  purpose  and  of  thought.  It  is  the  essence,  the  growth, 
and  the  life,  of  the  soul.  Independently  of  purpose  and  will, 
we  examine  the  nature  of  mechanisation,  and  at  the  core  of 
the  earthbound  work  of  nature  control  we  recognise  a  true 
good,  which  had  been  granted  to  us,  but  which  we  have 
failed  to  perceive  owing  to  the  indistinctness  of  its  outlines. 
The  struggle  of  mechanisation  for  the  conquest  of  nature 
is  a  struggle  of  the  whole  of  mankind.  All  previous  endeavour 
was  the  work  of  the  individual,  the  family,  the  caste,  or 
the  tribe.  Thus  were  the  wild  beasts  driven  back  ;  thus 
were  the  wastes  reclaimed  ;  thus  was  the  sea  conquered. 
But  in  the  united  struggle  of  the  forces  of  man  with  the 
forces  of  nature,  the  totality  of  human  existence  must 
participate  ;  the  planetary  spirit  is  struggling  as  an  integer. 
Practically  and  obviously,  mechanisation  has  worked  on 
this  presupposition.  It  has  welded  the  human  unities  in 
millionfold  organisations ;  it  has  bound  them  in  chains 
forged  out  of  ether,  air,  water,  and  metal ;  it  has  united  the 
remotest  bodies  and  the  remotest  spirits  for  common  action. 
In  spirit,  however,  it  has  not  recognised  the  nature  of  the 
union  and  of  the  communal  activity,  for  it  continues  to 
avail  itself  of  the  primevally  old  and  slavish  stimuli  and 
instincts  which  take  the  form  of  struggle  and  severance. 
Covetousness  and  selfishness,  hatred,  envy,  and  enmity, 
the  furies'  scourges  of  primitive  ages  and  of  the  animal 
realm,  keep  the  mechanism  of  our  world  in  motion,  separating 
man  from  man,  community  from  community.  The  tears 
of  faith  are  dried  up  in  the  fire  of  the  mechanistic  will,  and 
the  words  of  priests  must  accommodate  themselves  to  the 
ministry  of  hate.  Chained  in  the  galley,  we  hew  one  another 
to  pieces,  although  it  is  our  bark  which  we  are  rowing,  and 
our  struggle  on  whose  behalf  it  set  forth. 

Yet  as  surely  as  we  know  that  the  awakening  soul  is  the 


286     IN         DAYS         TO         COME 

divine  sanctuary  for  which  we  live  and  are,  that  love  is 
the  redeemer  who  will  liberate  our  innermost  good  and  will 
weld  us  to  a  higher  unity,  just  so  surely  do  we  recognise 
in  the  inevitable  world-struggle  of  mechanisation  the  one 
essential — the  will  towards  unity.  In  so  far  as  we  oppose 
to  mechanisation  the  token  at  which  it  pales,  namely, 
transcendental  philosophy,  spiritual  devotion,  faith  in  the 
absolute  ;  in  so  far  as  we  illumine  the  true  nature  of  mechanis- 
ation, reaching  out  to  the  secret  core  of  the  will  to  unity — so 
far  shall  mechanisation  be  dethroned,  and  constrained  to 
service. 

We  are  learning  how  to  see  Not  for  the  sake  of  a 
subsistence  wage,  not  for  the  devil's  happiness  of  mere 
enjoyment  and  vanity,  not  for  the  sake  of  sloth,  selfishness, 
and  freedom  from  responsibility,  shall  we  barter  away  the 
dignity  of  our  manhood  and  the  life  of  our  soul.  We  are 
striving  for  the  unity  and  solidarity  of  the  human  common- 
wealth, for  the  unity  of  spiritual  responsibility  and  divine 
confidence.  Woe  to  the  race  and  to  its  future  should  it 
remain  deaf  to  the  voice  of  conscience  ;  should  it  still  be 
petrified  in  materialistic  apathy ;  should  it  rest  content 
with  tinsel ;  should  it  submit  to  the  bondage  of  selfishness 
and  hate. 

We  are  not  here  for  the  sake  of  possessions,  nor  for  the 
sake  of  power,  nor  for  the  sake  of  happiness  ;  we  are  here 
that  we  may  elucidate  the  divine  elements  in  the  human 
spirit. 


Printed  in  Great  Britain  by 
CKWIH  BROTHERS,   LIMITED,  THE  r.RESHAM  PRESS,   WOKIXC  AND  LONDON 


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